Modern form ofMalay language in general has manyloanwords fromSanskrit,Persian,Tamil,Greek,Latin,Portuguese,Dutch,Siam (Old Thailand) andDeutsch (Germany). More recently, loans have come fromArabic,English,Japanese and Malay's distant cousin such asJavanese andBuginese. English and other romance/germanic loans are mostly related to trade, science and technology while Arabic loans are mostly religious as Arabic is theliturgical language of Islam, the religion of the majority of Malay speakers. Some were also used in science,makmal for example mean laboratorium. AlthoughHinduism andBuddhism are no longer the major religions of Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia, Sanskrit, the vehicular language for these religions, is still held in high esteem, and its status is comparable with that of Latin in English and other Western European languages. The main reason is that Indian Muslims left big legacy in Southeast Asia. Sanskrit is also the main source forneologisms; these are usually formed from Sanskrit roots. For example, the name of cities ofPutrajaya andPetaling Jaya (the second name) in Malaysia,Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei, and the name ofJayapura city (former Hollandia) andJayawijaya Mountains (former Orange Range) in the Indonesian province of Papua were coined in the 1960s; the latter two are Sanskrit origin names to replace its Dutch colonial names. Some Indonesian contemporary medals of honor and awards, such as Bintang Mahaputra medal, Kalpataru award and Adipura award, are also Sanskrit derived names. The loanwords from Sanskrit cover many aspects ofreligion,art and everyday life. The Sanskrit influence came from contacts withIndia long ago before the 1st century.^[1] The words are either directly borrowed from India or through the intermediary of theOld Javanese language. In the classical language of Java, Old Javanese, the number of Sanskrit loanwords is far greater. The Old Javanese — English dictionary by Prof.P.J. Zoetmulder,S.J. (1982) contains no fewer than 25,500 entries. Almost half are Sanskrit loanwords. Sanskrit loanwords, unlike those from other languages except Arabic and Persian, have entered the basic Malay vocabulary to the point that they are no longer perceived to be foreign. Indonesian has inclination toward Sanskrit in formulation of new words due to extensive Javanese andBalinese-speaking community, while Malaysian and Bruneian Malay prefer Arabic as source for neologism due to acceptance of Islamic Arabic practices.^[2] Arabic in Indonesian tends to reside in (Islamic) religious sphere,^[2] the presence of Sanskritised neologism in Malaysian and Bruneian Malay is a result of "importation" from Indonesian.^[2] Other austronesian elements are also incorporated from thevariant of Malay used in Indonesia due to the exchange of influence on the Indonesian media in Malay pop culture and vice-versa.

Dutch influence over Indonesian vocabulary is highly significant, as Malay was adopted due to usefulness as a trading language during the Dutch East India Company's rule over the archipelago. This has led to approximately 10,000 Dutch words being borrowed into Indonesian. Malay as spoken inMalaysia (Bahasa Melayu) andSingapore, meanwhile, have more borrowings from English.^[3]

There are some words in Malay which are spelled exactly the same as the loan language, e.g. in English – museum (Indonesian), hospital (Malaysian), format, forum, hotel, transit etc. By contrast, some Malay words have been loaned into other languages,e.g. in English – ricepaddy ("padi"),orangutan,rattan,babirusa,^[4]cockatoo,^[5]compound,^[6]gong,tuak,sago,^[7][8]cootie,^[9]amok,durian,agar,rambutan,keris,Pantoum/pantun,^[10] angrecum (anggrek/ anggrik),cassowary,^[11]gingham,caddie,camphor (kapur),Gutta-percha (getah perca),launch,parang,sarong,dammar, andgambir.

Malay has also heavily influenced the forms of colloquial English spoken in Malaysia, also known asManglish.

Some examples are as follows:

• List of English words of Malay origin
• List of loanwords in Indonesian
• List of words of Malay origin atWiktionary

• Loan Words in Indonesian and Malay languages - Professor J.G. de Casparis
• Loan Words in Indonesian and Malay — University of Washington Press.ISBN 978-90-6718-304-8

• Malay language
• Malay words and phrases
• Lists of loanwords
• Malaysia-related lists

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