different between latah vs lath

English

Alternative forms

• lata

Etymology

From Malay latah.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?l??t?/

Noun

latah (countable and uncountable, plural latahs)

1. (pathology) A condition found in Malaysia and nearby areas characterised by extreme suggestibility; also, a person suffering from this malady.
   • 1959, William Burroughs, Naked Lunch:

     Latah is a condition occurring in Southeast Asia. Otherwise sane, Latahs compulsively imitate every motion once their attention is attracted by snapping the fingers or calling sharply.

   • 1989, Anthony Burgess, The Devil's Mode:

     It seemed to Sir Edwin that this patient, a young man who had never set foot outside England, was suffering from an ailment known as latah – common enough in the Malay archipelago but hitherto unknown, so far as the clinical records – admittedly not very reliable – could advise, in the temperate clime of northern Europe.

   • 2003, Wen-Shing Tseng, Clinician's Guide to Cultural Psychiatry, p. 116:

     Actually, there is a debate among scholars as to whether the latah condition should be regarded as a culture-related "mental disorder" or merely as an "unusual behavior response" found in some cultures.

Anagrams

• Thala

Indonesian

Etymology 1

From Malay latah, from Sanskrit ??? (lat?, “streak, childish”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?lat?ah]
• Hyphenation: la?tah

Adjective

latah

1. (psychiatry, psychology) latah: a condition found in Malaysia and nearby areas characterised by extreme suggestibility.
2. acting like a crazy person.
3. behaves in a stereotypically other nation manner as imitation in attitude, deed, or habit.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Unknown. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?lat?ah]
• Hyphenation: la?tah

Noun

latah (first-person possessive latahku, second-person possessive latahmu, third-person possessive latahnya)

1. (archaic) trash under the tree.

Further reading

• “latah” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Malay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /latah/
• Rhymes: -atah, -tah, -ah

Noun

latah (Jawi spelling ?????, informal 1st possessive latahku, impolite 2nd possessive latahmu, 3rd possessive latahnya)

1. (pathology) latah (A condition found in Malaysia and nearby areas characterised by extreme suggestibility)

Descendants

• ? English: latah
• Indonesian: latah

Further reading

• “latah” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

English

Alternative forms

• lat, latt (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English laththe, laþþe, earlier lathe, laþe, altered from Old English lætt (“lath”), from Proto-Germanic *latt?, *laþþ? (compare Dutch lat, German Latte) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lat- (compare Welsh llath (“rod, wand, yard”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /læ?/
• Rhymes: -æ?
• Rhymes: -???

Noun

lath (plural laths)

1. A thin, narrow strip, fastened to the rafters, studs, or floor beams of a building, for the purpose of supporting a covering of tiles, plastering, etc.
   • 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:

     The rubble waits him, sloping up to broken rear walls in a clogging, an openwork of laths pointlessly chevroning-flooring, furniture, glass, chunks of plaster, long tatters of wallpaper, split and shattered joists […].

   • 1995, Alan Warner, Morvern Callar, Vintage 2015, p. 21:

     Lanna says about wishing she was bigger in the chest and I goes that I had nothing to beat there and I was thin as a lat.

   Synonym: lath strap

Holonyms

• lattice

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Verb

lath (third-person singular simple present laths, present participle lathing, simple past and past participle lathed)

1. to cover or line with laths

Anagrams

• halt, thal