tavan (Coastal Kadazan)
Where does "tavan" come from?
The Coastal Kadazan word 'tavan' refers to the sky and shares a common ancestry with the Central Dusun term 'tawan'. These related forms suggest a broader linguistic connection, potentially linking the concept of the sky in these languages to the Malay word 'awan', which specifically denotes a cloud.
Cognates and doublets
- tawan (Central Dusun)
- awan (Malay)
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris