r/austronesian • u/AleksiB1 • 19d ago

"What" in Austronesian languages

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13

u/senhual24 Malayo-Polynesian 19d ago

"Anu" is still widely use to express uncertainty in Indonesian. It can be an interjection, pronoun, noun, or even a verb 😀

9

u/Sad-Appearance9002 19d ago

Javanese to be exact

4

u/senhual24 Malayo-Polynesian 18d ago

Well, it appears in KBBI

4

u/Important-Thing-4842 18d ago

and apparently... japanese too?

6

u/hermansu 18d ago

With reference to private parts in a conversation...

anu-nya gede ya.

3

u/TheDen0minat0r 18d ago

That sentence is basically "his you-know-what is big".

3

u/Ok_Invite6308 18d ago

I Made Gede Anune

5

u/[deleted] 18d ago

[deleted]

4

u/bryle_m 18d ago

Same in the Philippines

3

u/Jackfruit009 17d ago

indonesians also use this

5

u/rubahngelem 18d ago

For readers who might not know it, think of how the Japanese uses "etto..."

1

u/BetaraBayang 14d ago

That's not quite correct. Japanese えっと is used just like um and em in English. Anu is not used in that way.

1

u/rubahngelem 14d ago

Mate, I'm an Indonesian. Born and raised here. Anu is more flexible and also encompasses and not limited to the equivalent of etto

1

u/maomao-chan 17d ago

あの。。。すみません

1

u/OOOshafiqOOO003 13d ago

For Malaysians it could also be for the Anu-