pe- -an

pe- -an

1. An unproductive circumfix whose meanings largely overlap with those of per- -an with which it sometimes has variant forms.

   ‎dalam (“deep”) → ‎pedalaman (“hinterland”)

   ‎tualang (“vagabond”) → ‎petualangan (“adventure”)

   ‎kubur (“grave”) → ‎pekuburan (“graveyard”) (along with the variant form perkuburan)

• James N. Sneddon (2010), Indonesian : a comprehensive grammar, 2 edition, London: Roultedge, →ISBN, →OCLC, section 1.103, page 48

pe- -an

1. A productive circumfix used to form nouns indicating a state, quality, process, or result related to the base word. The prefix pe- changes form according to the initial sound of the root (pem-, pen-, peng-, peny-).

   ‎derita (“suffer”) → ‎penderitaan (“suffering”)

   ‎lihat (“see”) → ‎pemerhatian (“observation”)

   ‎guna (“use”) → ‎penggunaan (“usage”)

   ‎pilih (“choose”) → ‎pemilihan (“selection”)

   ‎sewa (“rent”) → ‎penyewaan (“renting”)

• The circumfix is generally applied to verb or adjective roots.
• The initial consonant of the root may be dropped or cause changes in the prefix form:
  • *p* → dropped, prefix becomes pem- (*pemilihan* ← *pilih*)
  • *t* → dropped, prefix becomes pen- (*pengetahuan* ← *tahu*)
  • *s* → dropped, prefix becomes peny- (*penyewaan* ← *sewa*)
  • *k* → dropped, prefix becomes peng- (*pengiraan* ← *kira*)