kuasa

Etymology

From Malay kuasa, ke- +‎ *wasa, from Javanese ꦏꦸꦮꦱ (kuwasa), ꦏꦮꦱ (kawasa), from Old Javanese kawaśa, from Sanskrit वश (vaśa, “authority, power, control, dominion”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kuˈasa]
• Rhymes: -sa, -a
• Hyphenation: ku‧a‧sa

Noun

kuasa (plural kuasa-kuasa, first-person possessive kuasaku, second-person possessive kuasamu, third-person possessive kuasanya)

1. power:
   1. the ability to do or undergo something.

      Synonym: tenaga

   2. the ability to coerce, influence or control.
   3. (statistics) the probability that a statistical test will reject the null hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is true.
2. authority

   Synonym: otoritas

3. (physics) force (anything that has the power to produce a physical effect)

   Synonym: daya (Standard Malay)

Further reading

• “kuasa” 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.

Etymology

From Javanese ꦏꦸꦮꦱ (kuwasa), ꦏꦮꦱ (kawasa), from Sanskrit वश (vaśa, “authority, power, control, dominion”). Reconstructed as ke- +‎ *wasa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuasa/
• Rhymes: -asa, -sa

• Audio (Malaysia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -a

Noun

kuasa (Jawi spelling کواس, plural kuasa-kuasa, informal 1st possessive kuasaku, 2nd possessive kuasamu, 3rd possessive kuasanya)

1. power

   Synonym: tenaga

   1. (mathematics) product of equal factors.

      Synonym: pangkat (Indonesia)

   2. (physics) rate of doing work or transferring energy.

      Synonym: daya (Indonesia)

2. strength

   Synonym: kekuatan

3. authority

   Synonym: autoriti

References

• Kosakata Bahasa Sanskerta dalam Bahasa Melayu Masa Kini, Jakarta, Indonesia: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa. Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 1994, →ISBN, pages 100-1
• Pijnappel, Jan (1875) “کواس koewasa”, in Maleisch-Hollandsch woordenboek, John Enschede en Zonen, Frederik Muller, pages 91-2
• Wilkinson, Richard James (1901) “کواس kuwasa”, in A Malay-English dictionary, Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh limited, page 542
• Wilkinson, Richard James (1932) “kuasa”, in A Malay-English dictionary (romanised), volume I, Mytilene, Greece: Salavopoulos & Kinderlis, page 616

Further reading

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