Proto-Malay

noun

An Austronesian speaker who moved from mainland Asia to the Malay peninsula and Malay archipelago in a long series of migrations between 2500 and 1500 BC, before that of the Deutero-Malays about a thousand years later.

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Meanings

nounProto-Malay (plural Proto-Malays)

plural Proto-Malays

  1. historicalAn Austronesian speaker who moved from mainland Asia to the Malay peninsula and Malay archipelago in a long series of migrations between 2500 and 1500 BC, before that of the Deutero-Malays about a thousand years later.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
old malay

Origin

From proto- + Malay.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Proto-Malay. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Proto-Malay

MLA

“Proto-Malay.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Proto-Malay. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Proto-Malay,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Proto-Malay.

Source: Proto-Malay on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.