Pencak Silat to Minangkabau word "silek". Due to Sumatran origin of the language, the Sumatran origin of the term is likely. Although the word "silat" is widely known throughout much of Southeast Asia, the term "pencak silat" is used mainly in Indonesia. Pencak silat was chosen in 1948 as a unifying term for the Indonesian fighting styles. It was a compound of the two most commonly used words for martial arts in Indonesia. "Pencak" was the term used in central and east Java, while "silat" was used in Sumatra, Malay Peninsula and Borneo. In Minang usage, pencak and silat are seen as
Silat been adopted worldwide in reference to professional competitive silat for sport, similar to the Chinese word wushu. Regional dialect names include "penca" (West Java), "dika" or "padik" (Thailand), "silek" (the Minangkabau pronunciation of silat), "main-po" or "maen po" (in the lower speech of Sundanese), and "gayong" or "gayung" (used in parts of Malaysia and Sumatra). The clear distinction between Indonesian and Peninsular silat is a relatively recent one based mainly on post-independence patriotic sentiments. The term silat Melayu ("Malay silat") was originally used in reference to Riau but is today commonly used for referring to systems created on the Southeast