What does “ngawur” mean in Indonesian?
Guru kaget lihat hasil kue strawberry murid terakhir
A2 Indonesian listening practice · Indonesian · Picked for people who know a little
A teacher sets a simple task, bake a strawberry cake, and the results go off the rails: «makin lama kuenya malah makin ngawur» (“the longer it went, the more haphazard the cakes got”). Ngawur means “haphazard, all over the place, nonsensical.”
You can do something ngawur (any old way, carelessly) or talk ngawur (spout nonsense). The punchline says it all when the teacher gapes at the last cake: “itu strawberry apa Pokemon sih?” (“is that a strawberry or a Pokémon?”). A handy, very Indonesian word for anything that’s a glorious mess.
How common are the words?
How common are the words in this A2 Indonesian listening practice video?
How common in Indonesian
How common in spoken Indonesian
Harder words in this video
These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · OpenSubtitles 2018 (HermitDave) (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Indonesian comedy and school-skit videos.
- ▸Calling out work done carelessly or “any old way.”
- ▸For talking nonsense: “jangan ngawur!” (“don’t talk rubbish!”).
- ▸In Indonesian banter about a plan gone sideways.