Austronesian · ISO 639-3 msa · ms
Malay Language Bahasa Melayu
Malay is an Austronesian language spoken by about 77 million people in 6 countries. It is an official language of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. It is written in the Latin, Thai and Perso-Arabic scripts.
Where Malay is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Malay
Language family
- Austronesian
- Malayo-Polynesian
- Malayo-Chamic
- Malay
Writing system
Latin, Thai and Perso-Arabic scripts
Related languages
About the Malay language
Malay (Bahasa Melayu) is spoken by about 77 million people. It belongs to the Austronesian language family and, more precisely, to the Malayo-Chamic group within the Malayo-Chamic branch.
Where is Malay spoken?
Malay is used in 6 countries. The largest communities live in Malaysia (26 million), Indonesia (9.6 million), Thailand (2.6 million), Singapore (1.1 million) and Brunei (457,467). More than half of the population speaks it in Malaysia, Brunei and Cocos (Keeling) Islands — the places where travellers will hear it everywhere.
Share of the population that speaks Malay: Malaysia 75% (26 million), Indonesia 3.4% (9.6 million), Thailand 3.7% (2.6 million), Singapore 19% (1.1 million), Brunei 93% (457,467) and Cocos (Keeling) Islands 84% (498).
Malay is an official language in 3 countries: Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
Writing system and status
Malay is written in the Latin, Thai and Perso-Arabic scripts.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Indonesian, Minangkabau, Betawi, Bukit Malay, Banjar, Achinese and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-1 ms, ISO 639-3 msa.
Frequently asked questions about Malay
How many people speak Malay?
Where is Malay spoken?
In which countries is Malay an official language?
What language family does Malay belong to?
What is Malay called in Malay?
Is Malay an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.