Skip to content

malakapas

malakapás with stress marks

mojarra or silver biddy fish

noun ma-la-ka-PAS Native origin Rare

Usage Note

Malakapas is a small, silver-bodied fish common in Philippine coastal and estuarine waters, caught in large numbers by local fishermen and often dried or fried. It is an affordable and accessible protein source in coastal communities.

Examples

Beginner

" Pinirito niya ang malakapas. "

Natural Translation

She fried the mojarra fish.

Literal Translation

Fried she the mojarra-fish.

Intermediate

" Masarap ang malakapas. "

Natural Translation

The mojarra fish is delicious.

Literal Translation

Delicious the mojarra fish.

Advanced

" Sa mga nayon sa baybayin, malakapas ang madalas na huli ng mga mangingisda na ibinibilad nila upang gawing daing. "

Natural Translation

In the coastal villages, mojarra is the fishermen's frequent catch, which they sun-dry to make into dried fish.

Literal Translation

In the [mga] village at coast, mojarra the frequent [na] catch of-the [mga] fisherman that sun-dry they to make dried-fish.

Free · iOS & Android

Take Tagalog with you

The full course, a 12,500-word dictionary, and flashcards that make every word stick — free to start on iOS and Android.

Tagalog builds thousands of words from a few hundred roots.

How Tagalog words work

Explore Tagalog by topic

Free guides on grammar, vocabulary, and culture to take you past single-word lookups.