Malaysia
- 1A Southeast Asian country whose capital is Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia shares the island of Borneo with Indonesia and Brunei.
Many tourists visit Malaysia for its beaches and tropical rainforests.
Note
The name is built from Malays plus -ia and replaced the earlier form Malaya. The added s was a deliberate tribute. It marks the moment Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo (Sabah) joined Malaya to form the Federation of Malaysia. Keep the two names apart in historical writing: Malaya is the earlier state, and Malaysia is the wider federation that took its place.
- 2An older name for the Malay Archipelago, the chain of islands lying between mainland Southeast Asia and Australia.
Note
An old geographers' name that once covered a whole region rather than a single state. The System of Descriptive Geography of 1842 divides Malaysia into six island groups, beginning with Sumatra and its neighbors. Read it this way in older travel and scientific writing, but do not use it so today. The name now belongs to the modern country, and the islands are called the Malay Archipelago.
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Origin
Formed from "Malays" plus the suffix "-ia", amended from the earlier form "Malaya". The "-s" was added to honor the inclusion of Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo (Sabah) alongside Malaya in the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.