# wayang
## English
### Alternative forms

* wajang

### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (Singapore) IPA: /ˈwɑjɑŋ/

### Noun

wayang (countable and uncountable, plural wayangs or wayang)
* Traditional Indonesian arts performance (shadow puppetry, theatrical, dance, etc.) originating from Java island.
* A shadow theatre performance, or such performances in general.
* (Malaysia, Singapore, music) Any traditional theatrical work, combining drama, music, song and sometimes dance.
** (Singapore) Traditional Chinese opera, performed outdoors. The equivalent term in Mandarin is 街戲 / 街戏 (jiēxì, literally “street opera”).
* (Singapore, Singlish) Insincere behaviour; an act meant to deceive or mislead.
** 1991 January 3, Lim Boon Heng, “CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE (AMENDMENT NO. 3) BILL”, in Parliamentary Debates: Official Report (Parliament of Singapore), volume 56, quoted in Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English, column 724:There had been two important reservations made on the practice of consultation and consensus. […] The other reservation is that consultation and consensus is no more than a “wayang”, because views are not accepted and no changes are made to the original policy.
** 2006 April 24, Tan Dawn Wei, The Straits Times, quoted in Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings Limited:Besides being adept at directing actors from behind the camera, [Royston] Tan is a bit of a wayang king himself.
** 2006 April 27, Lydia Lim, quoting Chee Soon Juan, The Straits Times, quoted in Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings Limited:Dr Chee called the polls a ‘wayang’ and said they were being held so that the PAP could claim to have the people’s mandate to govern.
** 2006 May 11, Leslie Koh, Aaron Low, quoting Inderjit Singh, The Straits Times, quoted in Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings Limited:Mr [Inderjit] Singh […] had said earlier that Mr [James] Gomez told him the minority certificate incident was just a ‘wayang’, Malay for theatre.
** 2007, lobert, soc.culture.singapore‎ (Usenet):They have to review whether they have revealed too much to the public before the wayang goes on.

### Verb

wayang (mostly invariable)
* (Singapore, Singlish) To put up a front, to pretend (e.g. to be hard at work) or behave in a false and misleading way.
** 2008, Zai Zai, soc.culture.singapore‎ (Usenet):[…] some [MPs] have to do wayang wayang in the evening like meet the people sessions.
** 2024 December 8, Nadine Lee, quoting Jade, in-house counsel, “Singaporeans Confess How They’re Wayang-ing the December Blues Away At Work”, in ricemedia.co‎, archived from the original on 8 December 2024:It’s taboo to say that you’re free, even if you have nothing to do, because that’s like asking to get fired. I think it’s obvious whether someone’s actually busy or just wayang-ing—they start toggling between the same documents or surreptitiously using their phone—we just don’t talk about it.

### Adjective

wayang (not comparable)
* (Singapore, Singlish, never attributive) For show, insincere or fake; ostentatious and showy.

### Usage notes

Sometimes reduplicated, as a verb or an adjective.

### References

* “wayang”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* Lee, Jack Tsen-Ta (2004) “wayang”, in A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English‎

## Hiligaynon
### Noun

wayáng
* open plain, extensive grounds in a broad valley, or the like

## Indonesian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Javanese ꦮꦪꦁ (wayang, “shadow; imagination”), from Old Javanese wayaṅ. Doublet of bayang.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈwa.jaŋ/
* Hyphenation: wa‧yang

### Noun

wayang (plural wayang-wayang)
* shadow play:
** (Indonesia) traditional arts performance (shadow puppetry, theatrical, dance, etc.) originally from Javanese culture.
** puppet in the shadow play
** the performance of shadow play
* (figurative) puppet (a person, country, etc, controlled by another); overbeared.
* (figurative) synonym of bayang-bayang.

#### Affixed terms

* diwayangkan
* mewayangkan
* pewayang
* pewayangan
* wayangan

#### Compounds

* wayang beber
* wayang gambar
* wayang gedek
* wayang gedhog
* wayang gelap
* wayang golek
* wayang kancil
* wayang kelitik
* wayang keroncong
* wayang kerucil
* wayang kulit
* wayang madha
* wayang makao
* wayang mbeling
* wayang menak
* wayang orang
* wayang plastik
* wayang potehi
* wayang purwa
* wayang rai wong
* wayang sadat
* wayang sarung tangan
* wayang suket
* wayang suluh
* wayang tavib
* wayang tengul
* wayang titi
* wayang topeng
* wayang ukur
* wayang wahyu
* wayang wong

### Further reading

* “wayang” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Javanese
### Romanization

wayang
* Romanization of ꦮꦪꦁ

## Malay
### Etymology

Borrowed from Javanese ꦮꦪꦁ (wayang, “shadow; imagination”), from Old Javanese wayaṅ. Doublet of bayang. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.).

### Pronunciation

* Audio (Malaysia):(file)
* Rhymes: -aŋ
* Rhymes: -jaŋ

### Noun

wayang (Jawi spelling وايڠ, plural wayang-wayang, informal 1st possessive wayangku, 2nd possessive wayangmu, 3rd possessive wayangnya)
* shadow play traditional among the Javanese and Kelantanese
** shadow theatre performance
* any live traditional theatrical performance
    wayang bangsawan: bangsawan, a kind of traditional Malay theatre (lit. 'aristocrat play')
    wayang Cina: Chinese opera
* (informal) ellipsis of wayang gambar (“motion picture; movie”).
    Andy ajak kita tengok wayang. ― Andy is inviting us to watch a movie.

#### Derived terms

* anak wayang
* panggung wayang
* panggung wayang gambar
* wayang bangsawan
* wayang beber
* wayang gambar
* wayang gelap
* wayang kuda
* wayang kulit
* wayang Cina
* wayang Makau
* wayang kelitik
* wayang gedog
* wayang purwa

#### Descendants

* → Hokkien: 花英 (hoa-iaⁿ) (?)

### References

* Pijnappel, Jan (1875) “وايڠ wajang”, in Maleisch-Hollandsch woordenboek, John Enschede en Zonen, Frederik Muller, page 142
* Wilkinson, Richard James (1901) “وايڠ wayang”, in A Malay-English dictionary, Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh limited, page 678
* Wilkinson, Richard James (1932) “wayang”, in A Malay-English dictionary (romanised), volume II, Mytilene, Greece: Salavopoulos & Kinderlis, page 648

### Further reading

* “wayang” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.