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wayang.

A theatrical performance of mythological events employing puppets or human dancers in Malaysia and Indonesia (especially Java).

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈwɑjɑŋ/Singapore
  1. A theatrical performance of mythological events employing puppets or human dancers in Malaysia and Indonesia (especially Java).

    countable · uncountable
  2. A shadow theatre performance, or such performances in general.

    countable · uncountable
  3. Any traditional theatrical work, combining drama, music, song and sometimes dance.

    Malaysia · Singapore · countable · uncountable
  4. Any traditional theatrical work, combining drama, music, song and sometimes dance. Traditional Chinese opera, performed outdoors. The equivalent term in Mandarin is 街戲 /街戏 (jiēxì, literally “street opera”).

    Malaysia · Singapore · countable · uncountable
  5. Insincere behaviour; an act meant to deceive or mislead.

    Malaysia · Singapore · Singlish · countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Transliteration of Javanese ꦮꦪꦁ (wayang, “shadow; imagination; puppetry”), from Old Javanese wayaṅ via Malay wayang. Cognate with Dutch wajang.

verb/ˈwɑjɑŋ/Singapore
  1. To put up a front, to pretend (e.g., to be hard at work when one’s superiors are watching) or behave in a false and misleading way, especially if it puts one at an advantage.

    Malaysia · Singapore · Singlish · invariable
Where this word comes from

Transliteration of Javanese ꦮꦪꦁ (wayang, “shadow; imagination; puppetry”), from Old Javanese wayaṅ via Malay wayang. Cognate with Dutch wajang.

adj/ˈwɑjɑŋ/Singapore
  1. For show, insincere or fake; ostentatious and showy.

    Singapore · Singlish · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Transliteration of Javanese ꦮꦪꦁ (wayang, “shadow; imagination; puppetry”), from Old Javanese wayaṅ via Malay wayang. Cognate with Dutch wajang.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.