Barangan

Barangan is a Malay-language noun meaning goods, articles, or merchandise. It is formed from the base word barang (an item or thing) with the suffix -an to create a collective or mass noun that refers to goods in general or a range of items. In everyday Malay, barang is used for individual items or objects, while barangan often frames goods as a category, inventory, or set of merchandise, frequently in formal or commercial contexts.

Common usages include a range of collocations such as barangan elektrik (electrical goods), barangan runcit (grocery items), barangan import (imported goods), and barangan keluaran (merchandise produced or released by a company). The term appears in retail, customs, business writing, and consumer-related contexts, including phrases about warranties or compliance, for example barangan rosak (damaged goods) or barangan yang perlu disahkan (goods that require verification). In official language across Malaysian, Singaporean, and Bruneian Malay, barangan is a standard term for goods in a broad sense.

Regional notes indicate that while barangan is widely understood in Malaysia and Singapore, Indonesian usage tends to prefer barang for goods or items, with barangan found mainly in formal, legal, or borrowed contexts. Overall, barangan functions as a formal or generalized term for merchandise and inventories, distinct from the more everyday plural form barang-barang used to enumerate individual items.