Amok

Definitions: Amok

Amok

Adjective

1. In a murderous frenzy as if possessed by a demon; "the soldier was completely amuck"; "berserk with grief"; "a berserk worker smashing windows".

Adverb

1. Wildly; without self-control; "when the restaurant caught fire the patrons ran amuck blocking the exit.

2. In a murderous frenzy; "rioters running amuck and throwing sticks and bottles and stones".

"Amok" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "a valley", "a depth".

Date "amok" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1985. (references)

Synonyms: Amok

Synonyms: berserk (adj), demoniac (adj), demoniacal (adj), possessed(p) (adj), amuck (adv), murderously (adv). (additional references)

Amok, sometimes spelled amuck and often used as "running amok," is a Malay word which in this language means to be out of control. For this reason, there has been an unfair association made between the Malays as a race and susceptibility to uncontrollable anger.

The following excerpts reveal this misconception :

"A Malay will suddenly and apparently without reason rush into the street armed with a kris or other weapons, and slash and cut at everybody he meets till he is killed. These frenzies were formerly regarded as due to sudden insanity. It is now, however, certain that the typical amok is the result of circumstances, such as domestic jealousy or gambling losses, which render a Malay desperate and weary of his life. It is, in fact, the Malay equivalent of suicide. "The act of running amuck is probably due to causes over which the culprit has some amount of control, as the custom has now died out in the British possessions in the peninsula, the offenders probably objecting to being caught and tried in cold blood" (W. W. Skeat).

Certainly W.W Skeat and others like him in making deductions like these seem failed to realise that being angry and out of control is a human trait, a negative one no doubt, but it definitely do not and cannot be used to characterise an entire community as though it is a racial trait.

Indeed the following excerpts, from an old encyclopaedia, reveal this fact well :

Though so intimately associated with the Malay there is some ground for believing the word to have an Indian origin, and the act is certainly far from unknown in Indian history. Some notable cases have occurred among the Rajputs. Thus, in 1634, the eldest son of the raja of Jodhpur ran amok at the court of Shah Jahan, failing in his attack on the emperor, but killing five of his officials. During the 18th century, again, at Hyderabad (Sind), two envoys, sent by the Jodhpur chief in regard to a quarrel between the two states, stabbed the prince and twenty-six of his suite before they themselves fell.

In Malabar there were certain professional assassins known to old travellers as Amouchi or Amuco. The nearest modern equivalent to these words would seem to be the Malayalim Amar-khan, "a warrior" (from amar, "fight"). The Malayalim term chaver applied to these ruffians meant literally those "who devote themselves to death." In Malabar was a custom by which the zamorin or king of Calicut had to cut his throat in public when he had reigned twelve years. In the 17th century a variation in his fate was made. He had to take his seat, after a great feast lasting twelve days, at a national assembly, surrounded by his armed suite, and it was lawful for anyone to attack him, and if he succeeded in killing him the murderer himself became zamorin (see Alex. Hamilton, "A new Account of the East Indies," in Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, viii. 374). In 1600 thirty would-be assassins were killed in their attempts. These men were called Amar-khan, and it has been suggested that their action was "running amok" in the true Malay sense. Another proposed derivation for amouchi is Sanskrit amokshya, "that cannot be loosed," suggesting that the murderer was bound by a vow, an explanation more than once advanced for the Malay amok; but amokshya in such a sense is unknown in Malayalim.

Initial text from an old encyclopedia. Please update as needed.

Amok is also the title of of a 1922 novel by Stefan Zweig.

Crosswords: Amok

Non-English Usage: "Amok" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Afrikaan (amuck, fierceness), Czech (amok), Dutch (amuck, fierceness), French (amok, amuck, wryness), German (amok, amuck), Swedish (amuck).

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Leave with me now or I'll run amok. (Laura; writing credit: Vera Caspary; Jay Dratler)
Movie/TV Titles	Olsenbanden og Dynamitt-Harry går amok (1973) Olsen-banden går amok (1973) Marty Amok (1970) Dyden går amok (1966) Amok (1965)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Amok Fifth Dispatch: Sourcebook for the Extremes of Information (reference) Amok Fourth Dispatch: Sourcebook of Extremes of Information in Print (reference) Amok Time 12 (reference) Cowboy Amok (reference) Disaster Run Amok (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 34: Amok Time (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Evan Ziporyn / Gamelan Galak Tika: Amok!, Tire Fire (reference) Star Trek: Original Television Soundtrack, Volume Two (The Doomsday Machine, Amok Time) [SOUNDTRACK] (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

High Tech	Amok (reference) (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

"Amok" is generally used as an adverb (general) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Amok" is used about 47 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adverb (general)	100%	47	49,740

Expressions using "amok": amok price ♦ run amok ♦ they ran amok through the town. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "amok"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		lëshohem si i çmendur (run amok, run amuck), bëhem i padrejtur (run amok, run amuck). (various references)

Arabic		‏مندفع مسعورا ويقتل الناس, ‏السعر (madness, price). (various references)

Bulgarian		в гнева си (amuck), извън себе си (amuck). (various references)

Chinese		疯狂 (Amuck, Craziness, Crazy, demented, frenzied, Frenzies, frenzy, insane, insanity, mad, madness, maniacal). (various references)

Czech		amok. (various references)

Farsi		مجنون (Demented, Insane, Loco, Lunatic, Maniac), لذت بردن ازادم کشی , ادمکشی کردن , شخص عصبانی ودیوانه , درحال جنون . (various references)

French		amok (amuck, run amuck). (various references)

German		Amok (amuck). (various references)

Greek		αμόκ (amuck, androphonomania, homicidal mania, run amuck). (various references)

Hebrew		משו�'ע ל�"רו�', אמוק, טרוף (craziness, dementia, frenzy, madness, maggot, mixed, scrambled, torn apart). (various references)

Hungarian		elvakultan (amuck, blindfold), ámokfutó (amuck), ámokfutás (amuck). (various references)

Italian		in preda a furia omicida (amuck), freneticamente (amuck, frantically), follemente (amuck, madly, wildly). (various references)

Pig Latin		amokay

Portuguese		amoque (amuck), possesso de fúria (amuck). (various references)

Romanian		amoc (amuck). (various references)

Russian		вне себя (amuck, beside oneself, off one's head), в ярости (amuck, frenzied). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		besno (amuck, madly), besan (amuck, furious, mad, sleepless, wild). (various references)

Spanish		locura (alienation, amuck, craziness, Folly, insanity, lunacy, madness, piece of folly, wildness), loco (amuck, barmy, bonkers, bugs, crack-brained, cracky, crazed, crazy, daft, demented, deranged, distraught, dunce, fogey, half wit, haywire, hectic, idiot, jenny ass, juggins, lemon, loco, loony, loose, mad, madman, nutty, out of one's mind, round the bend, up the pole, wall eyed, wet, whacky, wild, zany). (various references)

Swedish		löpa amok (amuck, run amok, run amuck). (various references)

Turkish		bunalım sonucu öldürme arzusu (amuck). (various references)

Ukranian		шалено (amuck, deliriously, headlong, madly, outrageously, toughly), шалений (amuck, boisterous, dithyrambic, ecstatic, fierce, frantic, frenzied, lunatic, mad, outrageous, pelting, stormy, unruly, vehement, wild), нестямно (amuck), нестямний (amuck, boisterous, furious, heartrending, rampageous, rampant), несамовито (amuck, fiercely, maniacally, outrageously), несамовитий (amuck, delirious, ecstatic, frantic, heartbreaking, heartrending, irresponsible, non compos, outrageous, passionate, phrenetic, violent), амок (amuck). (various references)

Vietnamese		như một người điên cu�"ng lên (amuck). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Date	Source	Nehemiah Chapter 12, Verse 20
Greek (transliterated)	250 BC	Septuagint	Kai epestreya autoiV logon kai eipa autoiV o qeoV tou ouranou autoV euodwsei hmin kai hmeiV douloi autou kaqaroi kai oikodomhsomen kai umin ouk estin meriV kai dikaiosunh kai mnhmosunon en ierousalhm
Latin	405	Vulgate	Sellaiae Celai Amoc Eber
Jacobean English	1611	King James	Of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;
Victorian English	1833	Webster	Of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;
Basic English	1964	Ogden	Of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	Nehemiah Chapter 12, Verse 20
Cebuano	Ni Sallai, si Callai; ni Amoc, si Eber;
Chinese	�'' 來族、有 � 萊．亞木族、有希伯．
Croatian	Saluove Kelaj; Amokove Eber;
Danish	Kallaj for Sallu, Eber for Amok,
Dutch	Van Sallai, Kallai; van Amok, Heber;
Finnish	Sallailla Kallai, Aamokilla Eeber,
French	pour Sallaï, Kallaï; pour Amok, Éber;
German	von Sallai war Kallai, von Amok war Eber,
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama	pada Salai adalah Kalai, pada Amuk adalah Heber,
Italian	di quello di Sallu, Kall� i; di quello di Amok, Eber;
Maori	Ta Harai, ko Karai; ta Amoko, ko Epere;
Norwegian	for Sallais Kallai, for Amoks Eber,
Portuguese	por Salai, Calai; por Amoque, Eber;
Rumanian	pentru Salai, Calai; pentru Amoc, Eber;
Spanish	Calai, de la de Salai; Heber, de la de Amoc,
Swedish	för Sallai Kallai, för Amok Eber,
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "amok": amoks. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Amok" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: adoc, Adoko, ajoke, almox, amaj, amak, amask, amek, Amelko, amic, amik, Amk, ammock, ammok, amob, amoc, amocc, amoce, amock, amod, amoe, amog, amoke, amoks, amol, amom, Amoo, amook, amoot, amot, ampo, Amsk, amu, amuk, amux, anak, Anek, Anik, Ankov, anof, anog, anok, anoke, anoo, anook, anop, anov, anox, anuk, aok, aom, asok, avoc, awoc, awok, Dahok, Danouk, emk, Harmoko, inok, kamik, kamuku, Madok, Makowka, Mamuk, maok, matok, mok, Namik, umo. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "amok" (pronounced umu"k)
4	u m u" k	amuck.
3	-m u" k	muck, schmuck.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Direct Anagrams: mako.
	Words within the letters "a-k-m-o"
	-1 letter: koa, moa, oak, oka.
	-2 letters: am, ka, ma, mo, om.
	Words containing the letters "a-k-m-o"
	+1 letter: amoks, makos, oakum.
	+2 letters: akimbo, comake, mikado, oakums, oomiak, tombak.
	+3 letters: armlock, bookman, comaker, comakes, comatik, hammock, kampong, komatik, leukoma, lockram, mammock, markhor, mattock, mikados, oakmoss, oomiack, oomiaks, ostmark, sjambok, sockman, sokeman, tokamak, tokomak, tomback, tombaks, workman.
	+4 letters: abelmosk, armlocks, backmost, backroom, bookmark, comakers, comaking, comatiks, comeback, darkroom, darksome, drammock, farmwork, foamlike, footmark, gamecock, hammocks, hawkmoth, kakemono, kakiemon, kampongs, keratoma, kilogram, komatiks, kymogram, larksome, leukomas, lockrams, makeover, makimono, mammocks, markdown, markhoor, markhors, mattocks, mazourka, moatlike, mockable, moonwalk, mossback, moussaka, oomiacks, ostmarks, pockmark, postmark, shamrock, sjamboks, smokable, stockman, teamwork, tokamaks, tokomaks, tokonoma, tomahawk, tombacks, workmate, yokemate.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

41 6D 6F 6B

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

⁼

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

.- -- --- -.-

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01000001 01101101 01101111 01101011

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#65 &#109 &#111 &#107

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0041 006D 006F 006B

British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

Expression	Frequency per Day
amok	57
amok time	16
amok circus	8
amok dj	7
amok domain game	6
amok time toy	3
amok book	2
amok zweig	2
amok beach emperor	2
amok run	2
amok clan.com	2
amok cheat	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Amok

Definitions: Amok

Amok

Adjective

Adverb

Synonyms: Amok

Specialty Definition: Amok

Crosswords: Amok

Modern Usage: Amok

Screenplays

Movie/TV Titles

Commercial Usage: Amok

Books

Theater & Movies

Music

High Tech

Usage Frequency: Amok

Expressions: Amok

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Amok

Modern Translations: Amok

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Chinese

Czech

Farsi

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Ukranian

Vietnamese

Bible Trace: Amok

Matched Bible Translations: Amok

Derivations & Misspellings: Amok

Derivations

Misspellings

Rhyming with "Amok"

Anagrams: Amok

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Alternative Orthography: Amok

41 6D 6F 6B

.- -- --- -.-

01000001 01101101 01101111 01101011

&#65 &#109 &#111 &#107

0041 006D 006F 006B

35798177

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