The story
- Malay · borrowed fromotak-otak
- English todayotak-otak
Borrowed from Malay otak-otak, plural of otak (“brain”), from the resemblance in appearance.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
otak-otak
Today it means: Grilled fish cake wrapped inside a banana leaf; a popular snack food in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore. Full definition →
Malay otak-otak