Tukang

Tukang is a term used in Indonesian and Malay to denote a person who performs a skilled trade or craft. It refers to a craftsman, tradesperson, or handyman and is commonly used in everyday language to describe someone with practical expertise in a specific craft rather than a formal job title. The word can be used neutrally to refer to a worker in a given occupation.

In daily usage, tukang is typically combined with the name of the trade to identify the worker, such as tukang kayu (carpenter), tukang batu (mason), tukang las (welder), tukang cukur (barber), tukang kebun (gardener), or tukang jahit (tailor). Other examples include tukang becak (rickshaw puller) and tukang parkir (parking attendant). The construction, service, and informal sectors frequently employ tukang.

Etymology and regional usage: The word tukang is native to Malay and Indonesian, with cognates across the region. The exact origin is uncertain. The term functions as a productive noun indicating the doer of a trade and appears in both urban and rural speech in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Socioeconomic context: Many tukang learn their craft through apprenticeship, family tradition, or formal training, and work in both formal and informal economies. In contemporary usage, the term is widely understood and may appear in everyday conversation, job advertisements, and descriptions of someone’s occupation, with a neutral or respectful tone depending on the context.