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INDONESIAN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

boleh.

may (to have permission to, be allowed. used in granting permission and in a question to make a polite request)

5 characters2 syllables approx.Bahasa Indonesia language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈbolɛh/Standard-Indonesian[ˈbo.lɛh]Standard-Indonesian
  1. may (to have permission to, be allowed. used in granting permission and in a question to make a polite request)

    auxiliary
    Kamu boleh memakan ikan ini.
    Bolehkah aku memakai pensilmu?
  2. can to be permitted or enabled to

    auxiliary
    Kamu boleh bermain setelah kamu menyelesaikan pekerjaan rumahmu.
    Bolehkah aku melihat jawabanmu?
  3. can to know how to; to be able to

    auxiliary · uncommon
  4. can to have the potential to; be possible

    auxiliary · uncommon
Where this word comes from

From Malay boleh, which is derived from an earlier form bulih, from Proto-Malayic *mArulih. The change in the sound of this word can be reconstructed as follows: *mArulih > *mərulih > *bər-ulih > *brulih > bulih > boleh, from which the verb was derived. Doublet of beroleh and peroleh.

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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.