bertatapan

Bertatapan is an Indonesian verb that describes gazing fixedly at someone or something, usually for a prolonged moment. It conveys a sense of intention, focus, or intensity beyond a simple glance, and can be used to express direct attention, tension, or intimacy in a scene.

The word is formed from tatap, meaning to gaze or stare, with the affixes ber- and -an, producing a stative or durative sense of the act. In usage, bertatapan can describe a single person gazing at an object or another person, as well as mutual or reciprocal staring, often expressed with saling bertatapan.

In contemporary Indonesian, bertatapan is more common in descriptive writing—literary prose, reporting, or narration—than in everyday speech. It is frequently employed to set mood, portray confrontation, or highlight emotional focus between characters or observers. The term can appear in phrases such as bertatapan lama, indicating a long gaze, or saling bertatapan, indicating two or more parties gazing at one another.

Related terms include menatap and memandangi, which are more common for general “to gaze at” actions, and tatapan, the noun form referring to the act or result of a gaze. While bertatapan carries a more specific nuance of intensity and duration, context will determine whether the emphasis is on the duration, mutuality, or the object of the gaze.