sejam

Sejam is a unit of time used in Indonesian and Malay to denote a duration of one hour. The word is formed with the prefix se- meaning “one” attached to jam, the term for hour. It is commonly used to express how long something lasts or how far in time something will occur.

In everyday speech, sejam can be used to indicate duration, as in phrases meaning “for one hour” or “one hour long.” It also appears in time-related expressions such as sejam lagi, meaning “one more hour” or “in one more hour.” The term is typically interchangeable with satu jam in many contexts, though sejam often conveys a more concise or informal sense of duration.

Usage notes and alternatives:

- Sejam is often encountered in spoken Indonesian and Malay, and in writing that aims for natural language.

- For half an hour, the typical term is setengah jam; for multiple hours, use jam with the appropriate numeral (e.g., dua jam = two hours, tiga jam = three hours).

- In formal or precise contexts, one may simply say satu jam or dua jam to avoid ambiguity.

Cultural and linguistic context:

- Time expressions like sejam are part of the broad habit of bundling time units in Malay and Indonesian. They align with how these languages describe durations and schedules in daily life, travel, media runtimes, and work timetables.

See also: jam (hour), setengah jam, satu jam, dua jam, tiga jam.