pulang

Pulang is a verb in Indonesian and Malay that means to go home or to return to one’s home or place of origin. It denotes movement toward a place regarded as home, typically after an absence such as work, study, or travel. The term is widely used in everyday speech and in literature to describe returning from an outing or journey.

In usage, pulang is often paired with a destination or prepositional marker such as ke. Examples include saya pulang ke rumah (I’m going home) or dia pulang dari sekolah (he/she returned from school). The tense is usually conveyed by context or with adverbs like sudah (already) or belum (not yet): saya sudah pulang (I have already come home).

A common expression is pulang kampung, meaning to return to one’s hometown, often during holidays or festive periods. This idiom conveys a sense of reuniting with family and homeland rather than simply traveling back to a different residence.

Pulang is closely related to balik, another Indonesian and Malay verb meaning to return, but with nuanced usage. While both can denote returning, pulang more strongly emphasizes homeward movement, whereas balik can convey a broader sense of returning to a former place or situation.

Etymology traces pulang to the Malay-Indonesian language family and is widely used across the Malay-speaking world. The word appears in everyday speech, media, and literature, reflecting its core role in describing the act of going home or returning.