To read before using the Malay-English dictionary
How this dictionary is different from other Malay dictionaries:
One innovative feature of this dictionary is that you can type a word with its prefix and suffix (eg. mengenakan or menyertai) and still get its meaning and also be told from what word it comes from. You will not be able to do this in a typical Malay dictionary, as such words would normally appear under their root words (in this case kena or serta) and if you don't know what their root words are, there is just no way for you to look them up in a Malay dictionary. While this might be obvious to many Malaysians, it is not the case for foreign students of Bahasa Malaysia. Take the very common word sedikit (=a little), for example. You will not find it in most dictionaries (not even in Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka's "Kamus Dewan" Edisi Keempat). Why? Simply because you have to look it up under its root word, which is dikit. Same for pejabat (=office). You have to look for it under jabat. How many students would be able to do this, I wonder.
As a result of this arrangement, you will not find any of the derived words (with prefixes or suffixes) grouped together under the root word here as is done in most Malay dictionaries. Each word that has a prefix or suffix will be treated here as an independent entry. Thus if you happen to come across the word perkelahian, for example, in your reading, just type the whole word as you see it (with its prefix and suffix). Don't try to look it up under its root word (which is kelahi).
As almost every verb in Malay can be made passive by just putting the prefix di before it, I am afraid I have to leave all these verbs out. Just be aware that if the verb "to beat" is pukul, then dipukul (in one word, no hyphen) would simply mean "is beaten", "are beaten", "was beaten" etc.
The hyphen in Malay words:
Please note that hyphenated words in Malay must always be typed with the hyphen if you expect to find them here (eg. undang-undang, NOT undangundang, mengapi-apikan, NOT mengapiapikan). Unlike English hyphenated words (which often end up without the hyphen), the hyphen is indispensable in Bahasa Malaysia, so make sure you type it in. I know it is just the opposite in my English-Malay section!
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