The story
- Malay · derived fromtapai“fermentation”
- Old Javanese · derived fromtumpi“a food made from starch and tempeh”
- Malay · derived fromtempe
- Indonesian · borrowed fromtempe
- English todaytempeh
From Indonesian tempe, from Malay tempe, possibly from Old Javanese tumpi (“a food made from starch and tempeh”), or Malay tapai (“fermentation”).
Words from the same roots
Malaytapai all →
tapai
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.