Malagasy

//ˌmæləˈɡæsi// adj, name, noun

adj, name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person from Madagascar or of Malagasy descent.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, from, or pertaining to Madagascar. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Of or pertaining to the Malagasy people. not-comparable
  3. 3
    Of, pertaining to or in the Malagasy language. not-comparable
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The languages of Madagascar or of the Malagasy people, when considered to be one language.
  2. 2
    The chief lect of this language or language group.

Synonyms

All synonyms
englishlanguagemadagascanmadagascanmadagascar

Example

More examples

"Madagascar is called "Madagasikara" in Malagasy."

Etymology

From Malagasy malagasy, connected to Mālāī-Jezīra, “island of Mālāī”. Compare English Madagascar, which by folk etymology comes from Marco Polo's misreading of Mogadishu whereas it should be Arabic جَزِيرَة المَالَائِيّ (jazīrat al-mālāʔiyy, “the Island of Mālāī”).

Related phrases

Malagasy carnivoranMalagasy civetMalagasy mongooseMalagasy mouseMalagasy ratMalagasy rodentMalagasy warbler

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.