Common Idioms and Sayings in Indonesia

Halo!

This time, I want to give some idioms or sayings that are common in Indonesia. Admittedly, some newer generation of Indonesians, especially those who studied in international schools, might not be familiar with them. My friend also said that they sound quite dramatic (and I agree).

Anyway, I’ll write them down alphabetically with its direct translation to English followed by their meaning or, if any, similar idioms in English. Some of these sayings can also be used as/made into verbs.

Bahasa Indonesia	Direct translation	Actual Meaning
Anak bawang	Onion child	Someone’s who’s there only as decoration with no contribution
Anak buah	Fruit’s child	Subordinate
Adu domba	Sheep fighting	Pitching others to fight
Anak emas	Golden child	Most loved kid
Angkat kaki	Raising feet	Leave
Angkat tangan	Raising hands	Giving up
Banting harga	Throw prices	Sale
Banting tulang	Throw bones	Working extremely hard
Berdarah dingin	Cold-blooded	Ruthless, cold-blooded
Besar kepala	Big-headed	Arrogant, haughty
Besar mulut	Big-mouthed	Loudmouth, braggart, blabbermouth
Bermuka dua	Two-faced	Two-faced, wishy-washy
Bintang lapangan	Field star	Best player on the field (usually sport-related)
Buah bibir	Fruit of the mouth	Becoming the talk of the town
Buah hati	Fruit of the heart	One’s beloved child(ren)
Buah tangan	Fruit of the hand	Souvenir
Buang muka	Throwing away face	To ignore someone on purpose
Buaya darat	Land crocodile	Playboy
Bunga desa	Village flower	The most beautiful girl
Cari muka	Searching face	Seeking attention
Cuci mata	Washing eyes	Looking at something fun to refresh one’s eyes
Darah biru	Blue blood	Of noble descent, aristocrat
Darah daging	Blood and flesh	Biological child OR something ingrained within a society
Darah mendidih	Boiled blood	Furious
Darah terakhir	Last blood	The last living descendant
Debat kusir	Coachman debate	A useless and aimless debate
Demam panggung	Stage fever	Stage fright, getting cold feet
Empat mata	Four eyes	A meeting or conversation between two people
Gelap mata	Dark eyes	Loosing rationality to the point of being crazy
Gudang ilmu	Knowledge warehouse	A source of knowledge, be it a person or object or place
Gulung tikar	Rolling rug	Bankrupt
Harga mati	Dead price	The terms cannot be negotiated further
Hidung belang	Striped nose	Playboy, womanizer
Jalan tikus	Rat’s road	Small side roads usually only known by locals
Jam karet	Rubber clock	Unpunctual
Kabar angin	Wind news	Gossip
Kaki tangan	Feet and hands	Lackey
Kambing hitam	Black goat	The one that is always being blamed, scapegoat
Kebakaran jenggot	Beard on fire	Being angry
Kecil hati	Small-hearted	Discouraged, coward
Kelinci percobaan	Testing rabbit	Guinea pig (as in being used in experiments)
Kepala [number]	Head [number]	Age group, for example saying ‘kepala dua’ means in their twenties (‘dua’ means two)
Kepala batu = Keras kepala	Stone-headed = hard-headed	Headstrong
Kepala dingin	Cold-headed	Calm, patient, cool-headed
Kutu buku	Book flea	Bookworm
Kutu loncat	Jumping flea	A fickle person, someone who likes to change job/side
Kupu-kupu malam	Night butterfly	Prostitutes
Lintah darat	Land leech	Loan shark
Lurus hati	Straight-hearted	Honest
Main mata	Eye play	Flirting (as in sending eye signals)
Masuk angin	Entered by wind	Catching a cold (in Japanese they have a similar saying, where having a cold is ‘kaze wo hiita’ which means ‘caught wind’)
Mata angin	Wind eye	Wind direction, like north or southeast
Mata duitan	Money-eyed	Materialistic
Mata keranjang	Basket eye	Womanizer
Makan (asam) garam	Eating (acid) salt	Having a lot of experience, having gone through the ups and downs of life
Makan gaji buta	Eating blind wage	Receiving pay without doing anything
Makan hati	Eat liver	Disappointed
Malu-malu kucing	Shy as a cat	Pretending to be shy, like a tsundere
Meja hijau	Green table	Court (as in judicial/law context)
Memikat hati	Captivating heart	Captivating, seducing (noun)
Menjilat ludah sendiri	Licking one’s own spit	Doing or saying something that is opposite of one’s own words
Menusuk hati	Piercing heart	Offend, heart-piercing
Muka masam	Sour face	Pouting
Naik daun	Upping leaf	Becoming famous/popular
Naik pitam	Upping fit	Being angry
Otak udang	Shrimp brained	Dumb
Pandang bulu	Looking at fur	Differentiate, discriminate due to different background
Panjang akal	Long-minded	Clever
Pencuci mulut	Mouth washer	Dessert
Ringan tangan	Light-handed	Helpful OR likes to hit other
Sebatang kara	A stick	Living alone, have no relatives
(Si) jago merah	(The) red rooster	Flame/fire
Tangan besi	Steel hand	Heavy-handed, with iron-fist
Tangan kanan	Right hand	Right-hand man
Tanggal tua	Old date	The end of the month, usually used to imply financial difficulty because payday has long pass
Tebal muka	Thick-faced	Shameless
Titik darah penghabisan	Last drop of blood	Dying/passing away (usually used in war or fight context)
Tulang punggung keluarga	Family’s backbone	Family’s breadwinner
Tutup usia	Closing age	Passing away
Unjuk gigi	Showing teeth	Showing off, demonstrating one’s skill
Unjuk rasa	Showing feelings	Demonstration

Special feature on ‘jam karet’! I recently saw a foreigner on Instagram being amazed by ‘jam karet’, which literally means ‘rubber clock’. This saying contains a hidden (sarcastic) meaning, referring to how Indonesians are almost always late and whose sense of punctuality can be stretched like rubber. Even a tour guide I met in China said that whenever she brought along a group of Indonesians, she will always tell them an earlier time than the supposed one. So, for example, if we have to get on the bus by 10 AM, she won’t tell the group to gather at 10 AM. Instead she will say 9.30 AM or even 9 AM, to ensure that by 10 AM everyone is ready (and sometimes a few people might not even be ready yet). Of course, not every Indonesian is like that, but I admit we are quite lenient with time.

That’s all for today’s post. Let me know if I missed anything.

See you~