Nasi lemak, alamak, ketupat among words that made it into Oxford English Dictionary

Malaysia’s national breakfast dish nasi lemak is among a dozen of words from Malaysia that has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary.

These words lack direct translation but are used widely by English speakers.

“Sometimes, they do this with enough frequency that the borrowed word eventually becomes part of the vocabulary of their variety of English – a few examples of such loan words are featured in this quarter’s OED update,” the OED website read.

Words added to the OED included “alamak”, an exclamation expressing emotions such as shock, dismay or outrage, which the dictionary notes can be difficult to translate directly.

The widely used phrase “tapau”, a Cantonese word that refers to taking away or packing up food, has also been included.

Several food-related terms have also been added, reflecting the influence of Malay cuisine such as “ketupat” (first recorded in 1886), which refers to a diamond-shaped rice cake wrapped in woven palm leaves, commonly served with satay or festive meals.

The OED has also recognised words like “mat rempit”, which refers to “a (typically young) man who participates in illegal motorcycle street racing and often performs dangerous stunts”.

Another notable addition is “terror”, which in Malaysian English can mean both “terrible, awful” and “admirable, excellent”, depending on context.

Other words include steamboat, otak-otak, kaya, kaya toast, fish head curry and half – boiled egg.