dukun means A Malay shaman or witch doctor. It carries an Arena rating of 1313, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, dukun ranks #2,456 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #3,478 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #5,032 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #5,123 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
Why “dukun” is a great word
DUKUN — [Noun] A traditional healer, shaman, or spirit medium in Malay and Indonesian cultures. Borrowed from Malay dukun. Unlike "shaman" (an anthropological term that generalizes across cultures) or "doctor" (a title conferred by modern scientific institutions), a dukun is a figure rooted in the specific soil and spirit of the archipelago. It is the scent of kemenyan resin in a village clearing, the tactile knowledge of roots in a woven basket, and the low, rhythmic chant that bridges the visible and the unseen—a repository of whispered lore, where healing remains a conversation with the landscape itself.
Etymology
Borrowed from Malay dukun. Doublet of lokun.
noun
- A Malay shaman or witch doctor.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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