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What is The Origin of Indonesian Phrase ‘Biang Kerok’? The Examples

There are many slang phrase in Indonesian that we can’t use dictionary to translate them directly.

However, those phrases can be already popular and used by many people in Indonesia. One of the popular phrase is biang kerok. What is the origin of Indonesian phrase biang kerok?

To know more about the origin, meaning, pronunciation of the phrase, read the complete explanation below.

Origin of the Phrase Biang Kerok

Biang kerok is a figurative Indonesian phrase. This phrase is already popular and used in many Indonesian conversation since long time ago. According to a source, this phrase is already used since Japanese colonization era in Indonesia.

The phrase biang kerok became more popular in Indonesia since it was used as a one of popular Indonesian movie’s title. The movie title is Benyamin Biang Kerok. The movie was released in 1972 starring Benyamin S. as Benyamin.

Read more about other Indonesian slangs:

Biang Kerok Means in Indonesian

If we translate the words one by one using dictionary the literal meaning of biang kerok will be:

Biang : source, origin, or mother

Kerok : wreck

The actual meaning of the phrase biang kerok in Indonesian is culprit, troublemaker, or someone that cause problems, chaos, or commotion.

Several sources said that the phrase biang kerok came from Japanese word, not Indonesian. In Japanese, there is a word bakero that means stupid.

This words also used to call people that cause problems. As a result, Indonesian people interpret the word into Indonesian phrase “biang kerok”. 

How to Pronounce Biang Kerok in Indonesian

Pronouncing biang kerok in Indonesian is not difficult. Below are the explanation of the pronunciation for each syllable.

  • “Bi” in biang is pronounced similar to the way we pronounce “bee” in English
  • “ang” in biang is pronounced similar to the way we pronounce “yang” in English
  • “ke” in kerok is pronounced similar to the way we pronounce “ke” in the word “Kelly”
  • “rok” in kerok is pronounced similar to the way we pronounce “rock” in English

Now that you know the pronunciation of biang kerok in Indonesian language, you can try to use the phrase in Indonesian daily conversations.

Read more about Indonesian pronunciation:

 

Examples of How to Use Phrase Biang Kerok in Indonesian Daily Conversations

To know more about the meaning of an Indonesian phrase, you need to know and try how to use it in daily conversations.

Below are several examples of how to use phrase biang kerok in Indonesian daily conversational sentences:

  • Ini dia si biang kerok sudah datang.

Here comes the troublemaker.

  • Ana adalah biang kerok keributan antara kelas satu dan kelas dua.

Ana is the culprit that cause commotion between first and second class.

That’s all about the answer to the question what is the origin of Indonesian phrase biang kerok. I hope the information will be helpful for all the readers.

Categories: Phrases