ratusan

Ratusan is an Indonesian adjective and numerative word meaning “hundreds” or “a large number of.” It is derived from the noun ratus, which literally means “one hundred” in Indonesian. The suffix -an is a common morphological marker in Indonesian that turns a base word into an approximate quantifier expressing a large unspecified quantity. Thus ratusan is used to describe an amount that is in the range of several hundreds but not a precise count.

The word appears in many everyday expressions, for example ratusan orang (hundreds of people), ratusan kilometer (hundreds of kilometers), and ratusan juta rupiah (hundreds of million rupiahs). It functions typically before a noun and can also follow a noun when used in a construction such as orang ratusan, which is less common but grammatically permissible.

Because of its quantitative nature, ratusan is often used in formal written contexts to indicate mass or scale, such as in news reports, academic studies, or official statistics. In informal speech, speakers might say ratusan for emphasis when exaggerating quantity: “Ada ratusan orang yang datang.” Contextual clues normally identify that this refers to a large but unspecified number.

The concept of an approximate count expressed by a suffix is a characteristic feature of the Indonesian language. By employing the suffix -an, many base numerals form collective or plural descriptors; ratusan is one of the most frequently used in everyday conversation.