golongan

Golongan is a noun in Indonesian and Malay that denotes a group, class, or category of people or things sharing a common characteristic. It is a versatile term used in everyday language, administration, statistics, and linguistics to classify items by type or group.

Common phrases illustrate its range, such as golongan usia (age group), golongan pendapatan (income bracket), golongan pekerjaan (occupational group), and golongan kata (word class) in grammar. In medicine, golongan darah is used for blood groups. The word thus covers classifications from demographic and economic segments to grammatical categories and beyond.

In sociological and historical contexts, golongan can refer to social strata or factions, for example golongan bangsawan (nobility) or golongan petani (peasants). Because it is a generic, context-dependent term, its connotation varies with how it is used. In government statistics and censuses, golongan helps organize data by age, income, occupation, or other attributes to analyze distributions and trends.

The term is common across Malay-speaking regions and Indonesian-language media, education, and law, and it functions as a flexible labeling device rather than a fixed social descriptor. While generally neutral, the tone and impact of a statement using golongan can shift with the surrounding context or qualifiers, such as when paired with adjectives that describe value or status.