berdecit

Berdecit is a Malay and Indonesian verb describing the act of producing a rapid sequence of short, sharp noises, such as the sound of car horns, a misfiring engine, or cracking machinery. The term conveys a sense of irregular, repeating noise and is most commonly used in informal speech and writing to evoke a noisy or unsettled atmosphere.

The word is formed with the prefix ber-, indicating a state or ongoing action, attached to the root decit, which is an onomatopoeic noun-like base representing a “crackling” or “clattering” sound. In dictionaries, berdecit is typically defined as to emit such noises or to crackle. Because it is largely descriptive and informal, berdecit tends to appear in everyday conversation, regional reportage, or literary depictions rather than formal, technical language.

Usage of berdecit is most frequent in contexts describing traffic, machinery, or weather sounds that are noisy or disruptive. It is often used to paint a sensory impression rather than to convey precise technical information. For example, a narrator might write that a vehicle berdecit as it winds through a congested street, or that old machinery berdecit through the night. The term can function as an onomatopoeic device in narrative prose or as a vivid descriptor in casual commentary.

See also: onomatopoeia, noise description, Indonesian dialect vocabulary.