Jakarta – Occasionally you may overhear people gossiping about someone else and they use the term julid, or you come across the word ambyar when you are scrolling through your Twitter timeline and you wonder what the slang terms mean.
Well, wonder no more, because the Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language (KBBI) published by the Language Center of the Education and Culture Ministry has now included these words – as well as other slang terms – in its updated online version, which is available to the public.
The KBBI was updated in October, including the addition of more than 1,000 new entries, ranging from new words commonly used in daily conversation or appearing in social media to semantic changes.
The KBBI defines ambyar – originally a Javanese word – as "broken or shattered".
Ambyar seemingly gained ground among the public along with the term sahabat ambyar (community of the brokenhearted), which refers to fans of popular campursari (a blend of traditional Javanese and modern music) singer Didi Kempot, who in recent years has seen his popularity rise among younger audiences because of his lovelorn Javanese song lyrics.
The KBBI, meanwhile, defines julid as "envious and spiteful of other people's success", with the dictionary noting that people are usually julid while writing their comments or status or quips about someone on social media.
Other slang terms include cie, an exclamation used with the intention "of praising or teasing someone".
Several portmanteau words have also been added by the KBBI, including pansos from panjat sosial (social-climbing), mager from malas gerak (disinclined to do anything) and maksi from makan siang (lunch).
The KBBI is the official dictionary of the Indonesian language. The dictionary is produced and renewed periodically by the education ministry's Language Center.
According to the Language Center's official website, a new word can be added into the KBBI if it is unique, euphonic, in line with Indonesian language rules, does not promote negative connotations and is commonly used by the public.
The dictionary's first edition, which contained 62,000 words, was published in 1988. The current edition is the fifth edition of the dictionary, published in 2016 and contains 127,036 words. (sau)