Pejalan

Pejalan is a noun in Malay and Indonesian languages that denotes a person who walks. It is formed from the root jalan (to walk, road) with the agentive prefix pe-, yielding an expression that can be translated as “the walker” or “one who walks.” In everyday speech, the standalone form pejalan is uncommon; the more frequent compound is pejalan kaki, which explicitly means pedestrian.

In common usage, pejalan kaki is the standard term for a person traveling on foot, especially in discussions about traffic, safety, and urban design. The word pejalan by itself may appear in formal, academic, or historical contexts where the phrase orang yang berjalan (a person who walks) is elaborated or defined. The term highlights the human actor in walking activities rather than the physical space.

In urban planning and traffic regulation, the focus is typically on the pejalan kaki, as well as on infrastructure such as sidewalks (trotoar), crosswalks, and signals designed to protect pedestrians. Laws and guidelines related to pedestrian right-of-way, crossing behavior, and safety measures commonly use the term pejalan kaki rather than pejalan alone.

Distinctions to note include that pejalan does not refer to the space of walking or the pathway itself; jalan or trotoar are the terms for the space. Pejalan is thus primarily a person-oriented noun, with pejalan kaki as the conventional descriptor for pedestrians in most Malay- and Indonesian-language contexts.