Editing Peranakan Chinese (section)

===Etymology===
The word ''Peranakan'' is a grammatical [[inflection]] of the [[Malay language|Malay]] and [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]] word ''anak'', meaning ''child'' or ''offspring''. With the addition of the prefix ''per-'' and the suffix ''-an'' to the root ''anak'', the modified word ''peranakan'' has a variety of meanings. Among other things, it can mean ''womb'', or it can be used as a designator of genealogical descent, connoting ancestry or lineage, including great-grandparents or more-distant ancestors. On its own, when used in common parlance, the word "peranakan" does not denote a specific ethnicity of descent unless followed by a subsequent qualifying noun. For example ''Peranakan Tionghoa/Cina'' may simply mean "Chinese descendants"; likewise ''Jawi Peranakan'' can mean "Arab descendants", or ''Peranakan Belanda'' "Dutch descendants".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kridalaksana |first=Harimurti |title=Kamus Sinonim Bahasa Indonesia |year=1974 |publisher=Nusa Indah |language=id |author-link=Harimurti Kridalaksana}}</ref><ref name="Kamus"/>

However, in a semantic shift, the word ''peranakan'' has come to be used as a "metaphorical" adjective that has the meaning of "locally born but non-indigenous".<ref name=Mixed/> In Indonesian, it can denote "hybrid" or "crossbred".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/indonesian-english/peranakan|title=Peranakan|access-date=15 January 2019|website=Cambridge Dictionary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115052016/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/indonesian-english/peranakan|archive-date=15 January 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Thus the term "Peranakan Cina" or "Peranakan Tionghoa" can have the literal or archaic meaning of "Chinese womb" or "Chinese descendants" or "Chinese ancestry" or "descended from the Chinese"—but more latterly has come to mean "locally born but non-indigenous Chinese" or even "[[half-caste]] Chinese". The semantic shift is presumed to have arisen from the thorough hybridization or [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]] of the earliest Chinese or other non-indigenous settlers in the Malay Archipelago such that their ethnic heritage needed to be specified whenever referring to them, either to avoid confusion or to emphasise difference. The designator ''peranakan''—in its original sense simply connoting "descendant of X ethnicity", or "the wombs of X"—emerged as the name for entire ethnic groups that were "locally born but non-indigenous" or perceived to be "hybrid" and "crossbred", and, in time, the latter meaning has come to predominate. It should also be noted that the broadness of the semantic range of ''peranakan'' means that it can have significantly different connotations in different parts of the Nusantara region and across different dialects or variants of the Malay and Indonesian languages.

The word ''Peranakan,'' which can have very broad and labile meanings in [[Malay language|Malay]] and Indonesian and, when used in common parlance, is simply an indicator of heritage or descent, may also be used to refer to other ethnic groups in the same region. Owing to the broad meaning of the term 'peranakan', the term is also encountered when referring to other communities in the region with similar histories of immigration and assimilation. For example, the [[Chitty]] may accurately refer to themselves as 'Indian Hindu Peranakans', meaning "of Indian Hindu descent" or "locally born but non-indigenous Indian Hindu". Likewise the [[Kristang people|Kristang]] may accurately refer to themselves as 'Eurasian Peranakans'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peranakanmuseum.org.sg/themuseum/abtperanakans.html |title=Peranakan Museum |publisher=Peranakan Museum |access-date=10 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209102126/http://www.peranakanmuseum.org.sg/themuseum/abtperanakans.html |archive-date=9 February 2014 }}</ref> The name of the [[Jawi Peranakan|Jawi Pekan]] people is derived from 'Peranakan', [[Jawi alphabet|Jawi]] being the Javanised [[Arabic script]], and ''Pekan'' being a colloquial contraction of ''Peranakan''.<ref name="Kamus">{{Cite book |last=Nasution |first=Sadaoh |title=Kamus Umum Lengkap: Inggris-Indonesia Indonesia-Inggris |year=1989 |publisher=University of California |language=id}}</ref>