Malagasy

See also: malagasy

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Malagasy malagasy, connected to Mālāī-Jezīra, “island of Mālāī”. Compare English Madagascar, which by folk etymology comes from Marco Polo's misreading of Mogadishu whereas it should be Arabic جَزِيرَة المَالَائِيّ (jazīrat al-mālāʔiyy, “the Island of Mālāī”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmæləˈɡæsi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -æsi
• IPA^(key): /ˌmæləˈɡeɪzi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -eɪzi
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌmɑləˈɡɑsi/
  • Rhymes: -ɑːsi
• Hyphenation: Mal‧a‧gasy

Noun

Malagasy (plural Malagasy or Malagasies)

1. A person from Madagascar or of Malagasy descent.

Translations

person

• Afrikaans: Malgas
• Asturian: malgaxe (ast)
• Catalan: malgaix (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 馬拉加斯人 / 马拉加斯人 (Mǎlājiāsī rén)

• Czech: Malgaš m
• Esperanto: madagaskarano (man or woman), madagaskaranino (woman)
• Finnish: malagassi (fi)
• French: Malgache (fr) m or f
• German: Madagasse (de) m, Madagassin (de) f
• Hungarian: malgas (hu), madagaszkári (hu)
• Italian: malgascio (it) m
• Kazakh: малагасий (malagasii)
• Malagasy: malagasy (mg), gasy (mg)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gasser m, madagasser m

  Nynorsk: gassar (nn) m, madagassar (nn) m

• Polish: Madagaskarczyk (pl) m, Madagaskarka (pl) f
• Portuguese: malgaxe (pt) m, madagascarense (pt)
• Russian: малагаси́ец (ru) m (malagasíjec), малагаси́йка (ru) f (malagasíjka)
• Spanish: malgache (es)
• Swahili: Mbukini (sw)
• Swedish: madagask (sv) c, (female) madagaskiska (sv) c
• Turkish: Madagaskarlı (tr), Malgaş (tr)

Proper noun

Malagasy

1. The languages of Madagascar or of the Malagasy people, when considered to be one language.
   • 2020 August 4, Cyrus Multhauf, quoting Jagwar, “How a Malagasy Teenager Created the World’s Second-Largest Dictionary”, in NEEM Blog‎^[1], archived from the original on 4 March 2021:

     “On the other hand, I had the French and English Wiktionaries which each had more Malagasy words than the entire Malagasy Wiktionary. [That was] the trigger to start working on the Malagasy Wiktionary. In 2009, [I] didn’t know much programming at that time, so I did everything by hand, at least in the beginning.”

2. (in particular) The chief lect of this language or language group.

Translations

the language of the Malagasy, when considered one language

• Afrikaans: Malgassies (af), Malagassi
• Arabic: الْمَلَغَاسِيَّة (al-malaḡāsiyya) or الْمَلْغَاسِيَّة (al-malḡāsiyya), الْمَلَغَاشِيَّة (al-malaḡāšiyya) or الْمَلْغَاشِيَّة (al-malḡāšiyya)
• Armenian: մալգաշերեն (hy) (malgašeren)
• Asturian: malgaxe (ast)
• Catalan: malgaix (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 馬拉加斯語 / 马拉加斯语 (Mǎlājiāsī yǔ), 馬達加斯加語 / 马达加斯加语 (Mǎdájiāsījiāyǔ)

• Czech: malgaština (cs) f
• Danish: malagassisk (da)
• Dutch: Malgasy
• Finnish: malagassi (fi)
• French: malgache (fr) m
• Galician: malgaxe (gl) m
• German: Madagassisch (de) n
• Greek: μαλαγασικά n pl (malagasiká)
• Hungarian: malgas (hu)
• Icelandic: malagasíska (is) f
• Indonesian: bahasa Madagaskar
• Italian: malgascio (it) m
• Japanese: マダガスカル語 (ja) (Madagasukaru-go), マラガシ語 (Maragashi-go)
• Korean: 말라가시어 (ko) (mallagasieo), 마다가스카르어 (madagaseukareueo)
• Malagasy: fiteny malagasy, malagasy (mg)
• Navajo: Malagasii Dineʼé bizaad
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gassisk m, madagassisk m

  Nynorsk: gassisk (nn) m, madagassisk (nn) m

• Polish: malgaski (pl) m
• Portuguese: malgaxe (pt) m
• Russian: малагаси́йский (ru) m (malagasíjskij), (archaic) мальга́шский (ru) m (malʹgášskij)
• Spanish: malgache (es) m
• Swahili: Kibukini
• Swedish: malagassiska (sv) c
• Turkish: Malgaşça (tr), Madagaskarca

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Gujarati: ^{(please verify)} માલાગાસી f (mālāgāsī) (1), ^{(please verify)} માલાગાસી m or f (mālāgāsī) (2)
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} मालागासी (hi) f (mālāgāsī) (1), ^{(please verify)} मालागासी (hi) m or f (mālāgāsī) (2)
• Malagasy: anarana (mg)

Adjective

Malagasy (not comparable)

1. Of, from, or pertaining to Madagascar.
2. Of or pertaining to the Malagasy people.
3. Of, pertaining to or in the Malagasy language.

Derived terms

• Malagasy carnivoran
• Malagasy civet
• Malagasy mongoose
• Malagasy mouse
• Malagasy rat
• Malagasy rodent
• Malagasy warbler

Translations

pertaining to Madagascar

• Afrikaans: Malgassies (af), Madagaskars
• Asturian: malgaxe (ast)
• Bengali: মালাগাসি (bn) (malagaśi)
• Catalan: malgaix (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 馬拉加斯的 / 马拉加斯的, 马拉加斯的 (Mǎlājiāsī de)

• Czech: malgašský
• Finnish: madagaskarilainen (fi)
• French: malgache (fr)
• German: madagassisch (de)
• Gujarati: માલાગાસી (mālāgāsī)
• Hindi: मालागासी (hi) (mālāgāsī)
• Hungarian: madagaszkári (hu), malgas (hu)
• Malagasy: gasy (mg)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gassisk, madagassisk

  Nynorsk: gassisk (nn), madagassisk (nn)

• Polish: madagaskarski (pl), malgaski (pl)
• Portuguese: malgaxe (pt) m, madagascarense (pt)
• Russian: малагаси́йский (ru) (malagasíjskij)
• Slovak: madagaskarský
• Spanish: malgache (es)
• Swedish: madagaskisk (sv), madagassisk, malagassisk
• Turkish: malgaş, madagaskarlı
• Ukrainian: мадагаска́рський (madahaskársʹkyj), малагасійський (malahasijsʹkyj)

See also

• Appendix:Malagasy Swadesh list for a Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words in Malagasy
• Wiktionary’s coverage of Malagasy terms

Further reading

• Malagasy - English Dictionary: from Webster's Dictionary - the Rosetta Edition.
• Malagasy World - Malagasy - English - French dictionary
• ISO 639-1 code mg, ISO 639-3 code mlg (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Malagasy, mlg ⁠, a macrolanguage including:

• Ethnologue entry for Antankarana Malagasy, xmv ⁠
• Ethnologue entry for Bara Malagasy, bhr ⁠
• Ethnologue entry for Masikoro Malagasy, msh ⁠
• Ethnologue entry for Northern Betsimisaraka Malagasy, bmm ⁠
• Ethnologue entry for Plateau Malagasy, plt ⁠
• Ethnologue entry for Sakalava Malagasy, skg ⁠
• Ethnologue entry for Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy, tdx ⁠
• Ethnologue entry for Tanosy Malagasy, txy ⁠
• Ethnologue entry for Tsimihety Malagasy, xmw ⁠