If you are currently learning or have learned the Indonesian language, in the phase of remembering its vocabularies maybe you've got a feeling or a hint in some Indonesian words that some of it seems similar with a certain other language, and maybe you are kind of familiar with it. That is because the Indonesian language we know today is not entirely pure developed from 'old Indonesian' to 'new Indonesian', because there are many words that is made in the result of absorbing from other languages, and modified to match the tongue of Indonesian people.

Most of the absorbed languages were originated from countries that have colonized Indonesia or had a trade relation in the past, such as Netherlands, United Kingdom, Japan, etc.

The development of Indonesian language as country's official language starts from the independence day (1945~now), and from the writer's perspective, Indonesian language is still new and under-development.

Writer found a few absorbed words that is still ambiguous in its everyday use, and have not been cited the right way to use it in Great Dictionary of the Indonesian language, (in Indonesian; 'KBBI') in a little examples.

Example 1: Alumni and Alumnus

Alumni-alumnus are absorbed words from Latin.

Alumnus means 'a person who have finished education or have graduated from school or a university', and alumni means 'people who have finished their education or have graduated from school or a university'.

Example 2 : Kritisi and Kritikus

Kritisi-kritikus are absorbed words from Dutch.

Kritisi is originated from criticie (plural), and kritikus is originated from criticus (singular).

From the two examples above, we have given a hint that word that's ended with -i in this case is a plural, and a singular if it's ended with -us, similar with the origin of the words. But this pattern is not an absolute term that can be applied even with completely similar words by KBBI. See example below:

Example 1: Politisi and Politikus

In KBBI digital website, politisi and politikus are assigned as noun. Whereas politisi is a synonym of politikus, and politikus means 'political experts'. In conclusion these two words are having the same meaning.

Example 2: Musisi and Musikus

Musisi in KBBI digital website means 'musikus', and musikus means 'music produser or musician'. These two words is also a synonym and haven't mentioned which is plural and which is noun.

Above is a little example that shows how the words that's completely similar and have been used in our everyday conversation still need some development and a term of how to use it in the correct way. We can still found these cases in some other words from the result of another language absorption, and that shows how Indonesian language is still new and need a development.