juang

Juang is a word in Malay and Indonesian that primarily means to fight or to wage war. It functions as a base for related terms and is part of a common semantic field around conflict, struggle, and effort.

In contemporary Malay and Indonesian, juang appears most often in compounds rather than as a standalone verb in everyday writing. The most widely used derivatives are pejuang, meaning a fighter or fighter-figure, and perjuangan, meaning struggle or the act of striving toward a goal. Pejuang can refer to a person who fights, whether in a physical, political, or ideological sense, while perjuangan covers the broader concept of ongoing effort, including national or social movements.

Historically, the word has featured in nationalist and political discourse, where phrases such as pejuang kemerdekaan (freedom fighter) and perjuangan kemerdekaan (the struggle for independence) reflect its common associations with resistance and collective effort. In literary or rhetorical use, juang can convey a sense of determination, courage, and steadfastness in the face of adversity.

Outside Malay and Indonesian contexts, juang or similar spellings may appear as a surname or in place names, but there is no separate, widely recognized meaning attributed to the term beyond its linguistic roots. As a core element of related vocabulary, juang remains primarily relevant for discussions of fighting, resistance, and the concept of collective effort within Southeast Asian languages.