Indonesian Vocabulary: Pisah

Figure 1

Partisi pemisah agar jaga jarak lebih nyaman are the words on the green divider at Starbucks (see Figure 1). Google Translate renders this in English as "separation partition to keep the distance more comfortable". In this post, I want to focus on pemisah and the words related to it because they have wide applicability.

Pemisah itself translates are "separator" but it usually appears in the form of pemisahan as in these examples:

• Presiden Habibie mengampu pemisahan Timor Timur dari Indonesia = President Habibie supports the separation of Timor Timur from Indonesia.
  
  
• Pemisahan induk dan anaknya dilakukan ketika anak harimau itu sudah berumur satu tahun. = The separation of the mother and the baby was carried out when that tiger cub was one year old.

The root word from which both pemisah and pemisahan derive is pisah from which the following, additional words derive:

• berpisah: to part, to be separated as in Kita akan berpisah di tikungan jalan itu. = We will separate at that bend in the road; Dia berpisah dengan pacarnya. = She's split up with her boyfriend.
  
  
• berpisahan: to part from each other.
  
  
• memisah: separate

Figure 2

• memisahkan: separate, isolate as in Kulihat dia memisahkan diri dari kelompoknya. = I see that he has separated himself from his group (see Figure 2).
  
  
• terpisah: separate (issue, thing) or to become accidentally separated as in Kami hidup secara terpisah selama beberapa tahun. = We have lived separate for a number of years. 
  
  
• perpisahan: discord, leave-taking as in Perpisahan antara ibu dan anak itu sungguh mengharukan. = The discord between that mother and child is truly heart rending.

Figure 3: Source

Here are some more examples of words or phrases related to pisah:

• garis pemisah: dividing line
  
  
• terpisah-pisah: fragmentary; disjointed
  
  
• tanda pisah: dash (see Figure 3)
  
  
• juru pisah: arbiter
  
  
• dipisah-pisah: separated
  
  
• dipisahkan: separated as in Dipisahkan oleh ruang dan waktu. = Separated by time and space or Terpisah jarak dan waktu. = Separated by distance and time.
  
  
• pisah mereka!: spread 'em
  
  
• pisah!: break free
  
  
• pisah rancang: literally separate beds meaning Tidak lagi berhubungan sebagai suami istri, tetapi belum resmi bercerai. = No longer related as husband and wife, but not yet officially divorced.
  
  
• pisah tidur: same as pisah ranjang
  
  
• berpisah-pisah: split-up as in Tidak baik kalau ayah, ibu, dan anak bepisah-pisah tempat tinggalnya dalam satu kota. = It's not good if father, mother, and children live separately in one city.
  
  
• tidak terpisahkan: inseparable as in Bekerja dan belajar merupakan bagian hidupnya yang tidak terpisahkan. = Work and study is an inseparable part of his life
  
  
• temu pisah: farewell (temu means meeting)
  
  
• tinggal terpisah: live apart
  
  
• sampai maut memisahkan kita: until death do us part

Pisah is definitely a word for our times, given how fragmented the human race has become.