Kakak Meaning In Bahasa Indonesia

Halo semuanya, apa kabar? Ketemu lagi dengan saya, Iman Prabawa. This time, I'm going to talk about the meaning of [kakak] in Bahasa Indonesia. We're going to also watch a scene from an Indonesian movie where this word is spoken.

If you have any questions regarding the Indonesian language, you can ask me directly, or you can join my group. You can see it on my About Me page.

So, let's jump right in.

Kakak in Bahasa Indonesia

[Kakak] is used when we address someone older than us. Unlike [mba] and [mas] that has a specific gender; for example, [mas] is for older men, and [mba] is for older women. For [kakak], you can use it to address women or men who are older than you are. But this applies if you are in Java Island. 

When I moved to Bintan Island, located near Sumatera Island, I found that [kakak] is used for addressing a woman who is older than you, and they do not use [kakak] to address a man who is older than they are. They use [bang] when they address a man who is older than they are. And I found out that this applies throughout Sumatera Island.

How to Pronounce Kakak

Let's listen to how to pronounce the word [kakak] below.


Oftentimes time, you will hear Indonesian people shorten kakak into just kak. Let's hear down below how to pronounce kak. Just like kakak, you don't pronounce the last letter [k] there. 

Let's hear it down below.


Now, let's watch examples from movie scenes where the word [kakak] is spoken by Indonesians.

Examples of Kakak In use

The first scene we are about to watch is from Radio Galau (2012). Let's watch the clip below.

The conversation in that scene with English translation is as follows.

Tata: Kak Bara, kak Bara. Kak Bara, kan? Yang sering nulis cerita di Mading? (Bara, Bara. You are Bara, who often writes in the Wall Magazine, right?)

Bara: Iya. (Yeah, that's me.)

Tata: Halo kak, namaku Tata. (Hi, my name is Tata.)

Bara: Halo. (Hi.)

Tata: Hmm.. oh iya, kak. Teman aku ada yang mau kenalan lho, sama kakak. Kakak tunggu di sini sebentar, ya? Kak, ini teman aku yang mau kenalan sama kakak. Kak, aku duluan ya. Fel, good luck ya. (I have a friend who wants to get to know you. Could you please wait for a second? Here is my friend, who wants to get to know you. I'm off now. Fel, good luck.)

The girl in that scene is younger than the boy, so she calls his name with [kakak] or [kak] in front of his name. She calls him [Kak Bara]. Because this movie takes place in Jakarta, and Jakarta is on Java Island, as you can see, you can use it for males or females, as long as they are older than you are. 

Vocabulary From the Scene

[Kan] is here to make sure that someone is indeed the person that she knows.

[Nulis] here is short for [menulis] = to write. She drops [me] in [menulis] and just says it [nulis] instead. It is common in conversational Indonesian.

[Mading] is a blended word from [MAjalah] and [dinDING]. It means wall magazine.

[Aku] is informal for [saya] = I. For more about this, you can read my article here, Aku In Bahasa Indonesia.

[Mau] = want.

[Tunggu] = wait.

[Duluan ya] is used when you want to go and leave your friend. For more about this, you can read my article here, Duluan Ya In Indonesian.

     Read also: Mba In Bahasa Indonesia

So, I think this is a wrap and if you have any questions, just write down in the comment section. Thank you, and I'll talk to you soon. Bye now.