balangay
|ba-lan-gay|
/bəˈlaŋaɪ/
traditional Filipino plank boat
Etymology
'balangay' originates from Austronesian languages, specifically from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian roots reconstructed as *balangay/*balanga referring to a boat or large watercraft.
'balangay' passed into various Philippine languages from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (and related Old Malay forms), appearing in historical accounts of sea travel and coastal settlements and surviving in modern Philippine languages as 'balangay' (sometimes written 'balangai' or appearing in related forms).
Initially it meant a sea-going plank boat or large watercraft; over time the term continued to denote that type of vessel and also came to be used in archaeological and museum contexts for recovered examples.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a traditional Austronesian plank boat from the Philippines, often edge-joined and used for sea travel, trade, and migration in precolonial times.
Archaeologists uncovered a 1,200-year-old balangay in Butuan.
Synonyms
Noun 2
an archaeological or museum object: a specific recovered or reconstructed example of such a boat (e.g., the Butuan balangays).
Parts of the ancient balangay are displayed in the regional museum.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2026/01/03 23:32