Pencak Silat word "pancha" meaning five, or from the Chinese term "pencha" or "pungcha" which implies parrying or deflecting, and striking or pressing. Other terms may be used in particular dialects such as "silek", "penca", "mancak", "maen po" or "main-po". Dutch East Indian newspapers of the colonial era recorded the terms for martial arts under Dutch spellings. These include "silat", "pencak" (spelled in Dutch as "pentjak"), "penca" ("pentjah"), "mancak" ("mentjak"), "manca" ("mentjah"), and "pukulan" ("poekoelan"). In 1881 a magazine calls mancak a Batak fencing game "with long swords, daggers or wood ("mentjah")" These papers described mancak as Malayan ("Maleidsche") suggesting that the
Pencak Silat either done outdoors or in the "balai", a building in the kampung specifically made for combat practice. Batak silat is primarily armed, employing such weapons as the spear, single-edge blade, and a short-bladed knife known as the "raut". The raut is similar to the badik both in appearance and in its pinch-grip. The most common target is the opponent's midsection. The weapon is held loosely and used in an upward or downward hacking motion. Once the raut has pierced the enemy, the fighter pushes the knife further in with a palm strike. Unarmed techniques are derived from silek Minangkabau, as