Kalikan

Kalikan is a verb used in Indonesian and Malay that means to multiply. It is formed from the noun kali, meaning times or factors, with the suffix -kan to create a transitive verb. The term is primarily used to indicate the arithmetic operation of combining two or more numbers or expressions to produce a product.

In everyday language and education, kalikan often appears as an imperative command: it tells someone to perform a multiplication. For example, Kalikan dua angka itu yields the product of those numbers. In more formal mathematical language, the action is typically described with mengalikan, while kalikan remains common in instructional contexts, problem sets, and spoken guidance.

Usage notes and regional variation: kalikan appears across Indonesian- and Malay-speaking regions, particularly in classrooms and math education. The related noun form is perkalian, meaning the act or result of multiplication, and the phrasal expressions around multiplication vary with formality and dialect. In written mathematics, kalikan is less common in formal prose, where more neutral verbs like mengalikan or the noun bentuk perkalian may be preferred.

Examples:

- Kalikan dua dengan empat, hasilnya delapan.

- Kalikan tiga angka ini untuk mendapatkan produknya.

See also: kali (times), mengalikan, perkalian.