Meanings
proper noun
- historicalA peninsula and geographic region of Southeast Asia constituting the southern part of the Malay Peninsula and several nearby islands, currently forming the western part of Malaysia; now known as West Malaysia or Peninsular Malaysia.
- historicalA group of former British colonies and protectorates in Southeast Asia, existing on the southern part of the Malay Peninsula from 1826 to 1957, excepting the period of Japanese occupation during World War II; in full, British Malaya.
- historicalA former colony and later a former independent country in Southeast Asia, existing on the southern part of the Malay Peninsula from 1948 to 1963; independent from 1957 and merged in 1963 with the territories of East Malaysia, forming modern Malaysia; in full, Federation of Malaya.
Origin
From Malay + -ia, Latinization of Malay. Compare English Malaysia.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans Maleia
- Maleiathe Malay Peninsula
Catalan Malaia
- Malaiathe Malay Peninsula
Chinese Mandarin 馬來亞 /马来亚
- 馬來亞 /马来亚 (Mǎláiyà)the Malay Peninsula
Hindi मलय
- मलय (malay)the Malay Peninsula
Irish Leithinis Mhalae, an Malae
- Leithinis Mhalaethe Malay Peninsula
- an Malaethe Malay Peninsula
Malay Tanah Melayu
- Tanah Melayuthe Malay Peninsula
Russian Мала́йя
- Мала́йя (Malájja)the Malay Peninsula
Cite this entry
APA
Malaya. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Malaya
MLA
“Malaya.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Malaya. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Malaya,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Malaya.
Source: Malaya on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.