英和和英

語源

Uncertain. Several origins have been suggested:

• From Malay cengal (“Neobalanocarpus heimii, a kind of hardwood tree in the dipterocarp family”).
• From Malay cengal pasir or cengal mata kucing (“Hopea sangal, a tree in the dipterocarp family”).
• From the Malay name for a kind of spreading shrub found in the region (Thottea corymbosa).

Richard James Wilkinson records chěngai (cengai in modern orthography) as an alternative name for the cengal trees in A Malay–English Dictionary, originally published in 1901. In Singapore, chengai refers to the Neobalanocarpus heimii.