ketid

Ketid is a term used in Indonesian linguistics to refer to a bound morpheme commonly written as ketidak-. It is not a standalone word with its own lexical meaning; rather, it functions as a prefix that forms abstract nouns expressing negation or absence of a property when attached to adjectives or other bases. In this sense, ketid is part of a larger pattern that yields nouns describing states such as uncertainty, injustice, or incapacity.

The morphological pattern involves the ke- prefix together with tidak and the base, sometimes with an accompanying suffix such as -an. The most typical surface form is ketidak- followed by a root that carries the intended meaning, for example ketidakpastian (uncertainty), ketidakadilan (injustice), or ketidakmampuan (inability). These formations are common in formal writing and theoretical discussions of language, society, or ethics.

Usage and nuance: ketidak- constructions emphasize a state or condition arising from negation, rather than a simple negation of a specific action. They are especially frequent in discourse about social phenomena, policy, or philosophy. In everyday speech, speakers often rely on phrases like tidak [adjective] rather than the noun form ketidak-[adjective], though the noun forms appear in journalism, academic prose, and legal or political language.

See also: Indonesian morphology, negation in Indonesian, affixation, ke- prefix. Note that ketid is typically encountered as part of ketidak- rather than as an independent word, and it may be treated differently in linguistic analyses depending on the framework.