March 29, 2024

Filipino is a living language. It is made rich day by day through its usage, blending, and acquisition of terms from local and international languages. The selected words were gathered and observed by the writer through her discourse with other students and people in the community.
Up to 12 words with their etymology and/or meaning were round up: Bongga, which means impressive or stylish and bahala na traces its origins to the “Bathala na” where one leaves whatever happens next to the all-powerful deity. This phrase is indicative of the Filipinos’ humility in acknowledging that Bathala has greater power than any person.
Kilig, is exhilaration or elation caused by an exciting or romantic experience while “high blood” is used to refer to a person who’s mad or agitated.
Kikay is a flirtatious girl or lady who is interested in beauty products, cute materials, and fashion. KKB or kanya-kanyang bayad stems from the thriftiness of Filipinos.
Barkada is a Spanish word, which means boatload or a group of friends while carinderia is a small-time restaurant where affordable viands are served.
Lodi is someone a person look up to. It is the reversed form of the word idol while petmalu is another reversal of malupit which means excellent, amazing, or incredibly good.
Gimmick, connotes night out with friends while trapo which means rag is also a contraction of traditional politician, used it to describe a politician remarked as belonging to a conformist, corrupt, shady, and unethical ruling class.
Few of our words have reached foreign waters, bringing with them a load of the culture and history of the Filipinos. We should continuously promote and preserve our language because it is our reflection. It tells who and what we are.
In October 2018, there were more than 35 Philippine English terms and expressions that were legitimized in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). In June 14, 2019 a new set of Filipino-coined terms were included in OED among the 1,400 new words. World English Editor Danica Salazar, who spoke regarding the more recent Philippine additions and shared that, “The dictionary is committed to making space for words from the Philippines, as by doing so, we recognize how its Filipino speakers contribute to the richness and diversity of English.”
Is this not a pride to the Filipinos that our language is actually becoming global? We should continue using and enriching it, don’t you think? (JOANNA FRANCEZ BATALANG)