latah

• lata

From Malay latah.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑːtə/

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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.
   • 1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press:

     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, page 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.

• Thala

From Malay latah, from Sanskrit लता (latā, “streak, childish”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈlat̪ah]
• Hyphenation: la‧tah

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.

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

• IPA^(key): [ˈlat̪ah]
• Hyphenation: la‧tah

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

1. (archaic) trash under the tree.

• “latah” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

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

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

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

• → English: latah
• Indonesian: latah

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