Lumpur

Lumpur is a Malay word that translates to mud or sludge in English. It is used in both Malay and Indonesian to describe soft, wet earth, often found in riverbeds, swamps, or floodplains. In toponymy, lumpur appears as a component in place names and is best known in combination with Kuala to form Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia.

The name Kuala Lumpur derives from Kuala, meaning river mouth or estuary, and Lumpur, meaning mud. This reflects the muddy estuary at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak rivers where the settlement began in the 19th century and subsequently grew into the national capital. The term thus encapsulates both geographic and linguistic history associated with the area.

In contemporary usage, lumpur remains a common noun in Malay and Indonesian, widely used to describe mud or muddy conditions. As a standalone toponym, Lumpur is uncommon outside of fixed place names; most references to Lumpur alone point to Kuala Lumpur or invoke the semantic sense of mud in the language. The word has cognates across Malay-speaking regions and is part of the broader Austronesian linguistic landscape.