puki (Indonesian)
Where does "puki" come from?
The Indonesian word "puki," meaning vulva, traces its roots back to the Proto-Austronesian word "*puki." It has been preserved through millennia of linguistic evolution, passing through Proto-Malayo-Polynesian and Proto-Malayic stages before entering Malay and finally Indonesian. Its stability as a core term is shared across many Austronesian languages, including Tagalog and Sakizaya, where related forms persist.
Full etymology tree
- puki (Indonesian), 'vulva'
- inherited puki (Malay), 'vulva (collectively the external female sexual organs)'
- inherited *puki (Proto-Malayic)
- inherited *puki (Proto-Malayo-Polynesian)
- inherited *puki (Proto-Austronesian)
- inherited *puki (Proto-Malayo-Polynesian)
- inherited *puki (Proto-Malayic)
- inherited puki (Malay), 'vulva (collectively the external female sexual organs)'
Ancestors
- puki (Malay)
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris