populer

Populer is an Indonesian adjective meaning widely liked or well-known, equivalent to the English term popular. It is used to describe people, things, ideas, or trends that have broad appeal or visibility. In everyday speech and writing, populer appears in phrases such as film populer, musik populer, or selebriti populer. The word can modify nouns directly and forms such as sangat populer (very popular) or lebih populer (more popular) are common.

Etymology traces populer to the English word popular, which itself derives from Latin popularis through French. In Indonesian orthography, the form populer with one l is standardized, reflecting local spelling conventions. The term has been integrated into modern Indonesian lexicon since the 20th century and is widespread in media, education, and popular discourse.

Usage and nuance: populer conveys broad appeal and recognizability rather than a value judgment about quality. In formal writing, writers may choose synonyms such as terkenal or terkenal luas for precision or tone, while populer remains standard in journalism, advertising, and everyday communication. The word often appears in compound forms and adjectives, such as budaya populer (popular culture) or fenomena populer (popular phenomenon).

Related terms: popularitas or kepopularan are used to express the noun form of popularity; memopulerkan or mempopulerkan (and its noun counterparts) describe the act or process of making something popular, while populerisasi refers to the general push toward popularization. These terms help distinguish the state of being popular from the act of creating popularity.