In Standard Malaysian Rumi, a hyphen joins the two parts of a reduplicated word: anak-anak, berjalan-jalan, sayur-mayur, and porak-poranda. The hyphen is not decoration and does not merely show that something has been said twice. It tells the reader that the two written parts form one morphological word.
Kanak-kanak itu sedang bermain di halaman.
The children are playing in the yard.
Kami berjalan-jalan di sekitar bandar selepas makan malam.
We walked around the city after dinner.
English sometimes repeats a word for emphasis—“very, very quiet”—but it has no general spelling process comparable to Malay reduplication. A learner therefore has to recognize the Malay word-building pattern rather than decide where to hyphenate by English punctuation instinct. Ordinary Malay Rumi has no mandatory accent marks; the hyphen and the correct solid or separate spelling carry the relevant orthographic information here.
Full reduplication: repeat the whole base
In full reduplication, the complete base is written twice with a hyphen. With nouns, the result often indicates plurality, variety, or a class considered collectively. The exact meaning still depends on context: buku-buku normally means “books,” while sayur-sayuran refers broadly to vegetables rather than merely counting identical items.
| Base | Reduplicated form | Typical effect |
|---|---|---|
| anak | anak-anak | children |
| rumah | rumah-rumah | houses |
| awal | awal-awal | very early / from the outset (informal) |
| diam | diam-diam | quietly, secretly |
Rumah-rumah di kawasan itu dibina pada tahun 1960-an.
The houses in that area were built in the 1960s.
Dia keluar diam-diam supaya tidak mengejutkan bayi itu.
She slipped out quietly so as not to wake the baby.
Reduplication does not mechanically mean English plural -s. Malay normally avoids reduplicating a noun when a number or a clearly plural quantifier already supplies the count. Tiga buah rumah is the neutral phrase for “three houses,” not tiga buah rumah-rumah. The noun plurality page explains those grammatical choices; this page concerns how a chosen reduplicated form is written.
Affixed reduplication: do not duplicate visible affixes blindly
An affix can apply to a reduplicated base without being printed twice. In berjalan-jalan, the prefix ber- appears only at the left edge; the lexical base jalan is the repeated material. Writing berjalan-berjalan would copy the visible prefix instead of representing the standard word.
Mereka berjalan-jalan di pasar malam sambil mencari makanan.
They strolled around the night market while looking for food.
Anak itu berlari-lari di koridor walaupun sudah ditegur.
The child kept running about in the corridor even after being told off.
Suffixes and enclitics likewise occupy the position required by the whole construction. Rumah-rumahnya means “his/her houses” or “those houses of his/hers”: the possessive -nya follows the complete reduplicated form. It is not repeated on each half.
Rumah-rumahnya disewakan kepada pelajar universiti.
His houses are rented to university students.
Some derived reduplicatives surround or extend the repeated base, as in kekanak-kanakan “childish” and sayur-sayuran “vegetables.” These forms must be learned with their particular affix pattern; there is no safe instruction to “repeat everything between the spaces.” What stays constant is the hyphen inside the reduplicated word.
Jangan bersikap kekanak-kanakan ketika berbincang tentang perkara serius.
Don't behave childishly when discussing a serious matter.
For deeper analysis of where an affix takes scope, see attaching prefixes and suffixes. The adjective reduplication page shows how related patterns affect quality words.
Changing-sound reduplication
The second part need not be an exact copy. In changing-sound reduplication, one or more sounds change, but the two parts still constitute one conventional word and remain hyphenated. Common forms include sayur-mayur “vegetables of various kinds,” kuih-muih “assorted cakes and snacks,” lauk-pauk “various side dishes,” hiruk-pikuk “commotion,” and porak-poranda “in complete disorder.”
Ibu membeli sayur-mayur segar di pasar pagi.
Mum bought assorted fresh vegetables at the morning market.
Meja itu penuh dengan kuih-muih untuk tetamu.
The table was covered with assorted cakes and snacks for the guests.
Bilik stor itu porak-poranda selepas paip pecah.
The storeroom was in complete disarray after a pipe burst.
These pairs are lexical. A learner cannot freely invent kopi-mopi whenever several kinds of coffee are meant. Learn the whole established form, including which sounds change. Porak-poranda also shows why the rule cannot be reduced to “write the same word twice”: neither half is a freely repeated copy in the ordinary sense.
One word, not every repeated phrase
Hyphenation follows word structure. A speaker may repeat a clause or an utterance for discourse effect, but punctuation then reflects the sentence rather than creating a reduplicated word. Compare the lexical adverb cepat-cepat “quickly” with a repair in dialogue: Cepat—cepat panggil doktor! “Quick—call the doctor quickly!” The latter dash and repetition represent a broken utterance, not the spelling of one reduplicative item.
Cepat-cepat masuk; hujan sudah turun.
Get inside quickly; it has started raining.
Dia membaca surat itu berulang-ulang sebelum menjawab.
He read the letter repeatedly before replying.
The same principle separates hyphens from ordinary compound spelling. A compound such as jalan raya is written with a space because that is its established form; semantic unity alone does not license jalan-raya. See separate and solid compounds.
The digit 2 is shorthand, not edited spelling
In text messages and hurried personal notes, learners may encounter anak2, kawan2, or jalan2. This use of the digit 2 is (informal) shorthand for exact reduplication. It is not Standard Malaysian spelling for edited prose, school assignments, workplace correspondence, news copy, or public notices.
Semua murid diminta membawa buku masing-masing esok.
All pupils are asked to bring their respective books tomorrow. (formal notice)
Write anak-anak, kawan-kawan, and jalan-jalan in such contexts. The digit shortcut also becomes unclear with affixes and changing-sound forms: berjalan2 hides the relevant boundary, and sayur2 cannot represent sayur-mayur accurately.
Common Mistakes
Omitting the hyphen in a full reduplicative
❌ Kanak kanak itu bermain di luar.
Incorrect — an exact reduplicative is not written as two separate words.
✅ Kanak-kanak itu bermain di luar.
The children are playing outside.
Joining both halves into one uninterrupted string
❌ Kami membeli sayurmayur di pasar.
Incorrect — changing-sound reduplication requires a hyphen.
✅ Kami membeli sayur-mayur di pasar.
We bought assorted vegetables at the market.
Repeating the visible prefix
❌ Mereka berjalan-berjalan di tepi pantai.
Incorrect — the standard affixed reduplicative carries ber- only once.
✅ Mereka berjalan-jalan di tepi pantai.
They strolled along the beach.
Using the digit shortcut in formal prose
❌ Murid2 dikehendaki berkumpul di dewan.
Incorrect — write full reduplication with words and a hyphen.
✅ Murid-murid dikehendaki berkumpul di dewan.
The pupils are required to assemble in the hall. (formal notice)
Reduplicating a counted noun unnecessarily
❌ Mereka membeli tiga buah buku-buku rujukan.
Incorrect — the explicit number already supplies the plural count.
✅ Mereka membeli tiga buah buku rujukan.
They bought three reference books.
Key Takeaways
Use a hyphen in full reduplication (anak-anak), affixed reduplication (berjalan-jalan), and established changing-sound forms (sayur-mayur, porak-poranda). Do not repeat affixes mechanically, and do not confuse a morphological word with an ordinary repeated utterance. Forms such as anak2 belong to informal shorthand, not Standard Malaysian edited prose.
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Start learning Malay →Related Topics
- Attaching Prefixes and Suffixes in Malaysian MalayA2 — Spell ordinary Malay affixes solidly and use a hyphen only when capitals or mixed-case bases interrupt normal word spelling.
- Compounds: Separate, Solid, or Circumfixed in Malaysian MalayB1 — Spell Malaysian Malay compounds according to lexical convention and the scope of any affix.
- Plurality Without Obligatory Plural Marking in Malaysian MalayA2 — Express one, several, or varied referents with context, quantifiers, and meaningful reduplication rather than obligatory plural endings.
- Adjective Reduplication in Malaysian MalayB1 — Interpret adjective copying as distributive description, manner, emphasis, maximal degree, or a fixed lexical expression.
- Reduplication in Jawi: Full Forms and the Digit ٢B1 — Use ٢ for exact full reduplication in standard Jawi, and use a hyphen when the repeated material changes.
- Core Malay PunctuationA2 — Use full stops, commas, semicolons, colons, question marks, and exclamation marks to show the structure of Malaysian Malay prose.