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‘Millennial’ declared Indonesia’s first ever word of the year
According to the Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language (KBBI), milenial (millennial) is defined as “relating to the millennium” or “relating to the generation born between the 1980s and the 2000s.”
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo (fourth left) introduces his new presidential staff at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Nov. 21, 2019. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
T
he Education and Culture Ministry has chosen milenial (millennial) as Indonesia’s 2019 word of the year, the first such award from the ministry.
“The choice of the word milenial was based on its popularity, usage and distribution,” the ministry’s acting Language Agency head Dadang Sunendar said at a press conference in Jakarta on Monday as quoted by Antara news agency.
According to the Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language (KBBI), milenial is defined as “relating to the millennium” or “relating to the generation born between the 1980s and the 2000s.”
Dadang cited the word’s popularity on Google Trends and its widespread use among all levels of Indonesian society, ranging from government officials to members of the general public.
He added that the word had been used in several big news events such as the Millennial Road Safety Festival held by traffic police divisions across the country last March and the appointment of millennial presidential expert staff in November.
“The word milenial is also used in many fields including national media, scientific publications, as well as in government, the private sector and education fields,” Dadang said.
Milenial was also among the most searched-for words on the online KBBI, with 19,834 searches as of Dec. 30, 2019. Other popularly searched words include aktivitas (activity), analisis (analysis), daring (online), literasi (literacy) and survei (survey). (kmt)
