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INDONESIAN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

kala.

time

4 characters2 syllables approx.Bahasa Indonesia language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈkala/
  1. time

  2. when: during the time that

  3. epoch: a geochronologic unit of hundreds of thousands to millions of years; a subdivision of a period, and subdivided into ages (or sometimes subepochs)

  4. tense; any of the forms of a verb which distinguish when an action or state of being occurs or exists

  5. tense; an inflected form of a verb that indicates tense

    countable
Where this word comes from

From Malay kala, from Classical Malay kala, from Sanskrit काल (kāla, “time”) or Sanskrit कला (kalā, “a division of time”). Doublet of kali. Semantic loan from Dutch tijd (“tense”, literally “time”).

verb/ˈkala/
  1. to hit something with the shoulder

Where this word comes from

From Rote

noun/ˈkala/
  1. silk

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Malay kala, from Classical Malay kala, from Persian کالا (kâlâ, “silk clothes”).

verb/ˈkala/
  1. to be under the hot sun without protection

Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Berau Malay [Term?].

noun/ˈkala/
  1. snare

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Malay kala, from Classical Malay kala, from Javanese ꦏꦭ (kala, “bird noose, snare”), from Old Javanese kalā.

noun/ˈkala/
  1. synonym of qada

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Malay kala, from Arabic قَضَاء (qaḍāʔ). Doublet of qada.

noun/ˈkala/
  1. any member of scorpiones order

  2. scorpion

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Malay kala, from Javanese ꦏꦭ (kala, “stinging animal, scorpion”), from Sanskrit कालक (kālaka, “scorpion”).

noun/ˈkala/
  1. giant relief with bulging eyes and long fangs in the form of a scary-looking head, usually placed above the door of a house and believed to contain magical powers to protect the building, usually used above temple doors or in front of ancient buildings, believed to ward off evil influences

Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Javanese kala (“giant; evil, demon”), from Old Javanese kala, possibly borrowed from Sanskrit खल (khala, “mischievous man”).

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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.