Understanding “Bisdak”

At last, one of my blogger friends, Levian, asked me what “Bisdak“means.
Let’s start with these…

  • Bisdak is the short term for “Bisayang Dako”.
  • Bisayang - The root word for this is “Bisaya”
  • What is a “Bisaya”?
    • The Visayans, better know in Filipino language as “Bisaya”, are the largest ethnic group of Philippines. They primarily occupy the Visayasand northeastern Mindanao but others have migrated elsewhere in thePhilippines, including Manila. Several linguistic groups in thePhilippines comprise the Visayans; the largest of these groups are speakers of Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Waray-Waray. More than 40% ofFilipinos have Visayan ancestry or identify as Visayan. (Mostly taken from: Wikipedia)
  • the “ng” just sort of connects the noun “Bisaya” to the adjective “dako”
  • dako - a Visayan adjective word that literally means “big” or “great”.

So, the phrase “Bisayang dako” or “Bisdak“, could mean “truly Visayan”, “very Visayan”, or “purely Visayan”.

My parents are purely Visayans, I was raised in Northern Mindanao, and my family is still living there. I don’t really know what’s our dialect called but it’s almost identical to Cebuano.

Having passed all of these qualities, I’m proud to to call myself “Bisayang Dako”… a Bisdak. ;)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 11:30 pm and is filed under Philippines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

17 Responses to “Understanding “Bisdak””

  1. Stephen Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 1:43 am

    Neat! I figured you had explained it already, so I didn’t ask. :)

  2. MeemaX Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 11:19 am

    Uy mamashie. Sa akong pagkahibaw, ang pasabot sa dako sa bisdak kay “grow” o tinubuang bisaya (pasensyai ang half-breed).

  3. jams o donnell Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 5:17 pm

    I was curious about bisdak myself. Now I know. THanks

  4. Enrico Pangan Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 7:42 pm

    I thought “Bisayang Dako” would mean big Visayan! Hehehe.

    My wrong. :D

  5. Shabem Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 9:16 pm

    Cute baby. Happy WW!

  6. shiera Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 11:24 pm

    @Stephen
    I might have explained this before… but not as detailed as this one. :D

    @meemax
    haha! Pwede man pud “nagdakong Bisaya”… dili “tinubuang Bisaya” :D

    @james o donnell
    my pleasure ;)

    @enrico
    pwede din! :D pero in Bisaya “dako” also means “very” :)

  7. Manolo Says:
    February 21st, 2008 at 9:28 pm

    TAGALOG rules! It is the basis for the Filipino medium.

  8. shiera Says:
    February 21st, 2008 at 10:07 pm

    @manolo
    I don’t understand why your comment’s like that. I am not trying to impose something here. I just wanted to explain what “Bisdak” means and that I am happy and proud as I am. As a Bisdak. As a Filipino.

    Btw… Filipino medium? Then why are you using English? Even our government officials are using English.
    It’s just infuriating why Filipinos try to compete with other Filipinos. Always claiming that this group is better than the other group. We should concern ourselves with more pressing matters than thinking about which dialect rules.

  9. Manolo Says:
    February 22nd, 2008 at 10:43 am

    eh kasi naman, nag iingles po kayo dito, kaya, well, naki join in na lang ako. hehe. isa pa, official language naman ang English together with Filipino (tagalog). wala naman masama cguro dun. Co-official rin naman ang mga auxilliary languages tulad ng bisaya, atbp. wehehehehehehe.

    wag ka magalit, hehe. bato bato sa langit… ang tamaan, huwag magalit. :)

    Peace. :)

  10. shiera Says:
    February 22nd, 2008 at 11:12 am

    @manolo
    ok. Sana wala nang ganyanan. Nagkakasundo naman tayo e.
    Btw. hope you won’t use xxxxx. Para naman mavisit ko ang blog mo. Thanks sa comments

  11. Manolo Says:
    February 22nd, 2008 at 6:16 pm

    akala ko ba di mo tell sa iba ang email ko? eh bakit mo show ngayon? huhuhuhuhu. bad, bad, bad………… :(

  12. shiera Says:
    February 22nd, 2008 at 7:25 pm

    @manolo
    ha? sorry… di po sinasadya. akala ko kasi parang dummy email lang yun. deleted na po.

  13. Manolo Says:
    February 22nd, 2008 at 8:06 pm

    tenkyu:)

  14. lordmanilastone Says:
    February 27th, 2008 at 10:42 pm

    This is an interesting read and it is informative. I have been wondering what Bisdak means but never bothered to ask you. I am proud that I am born to a Waray mom. I just love her and she is the best mom in the world. Proud to be a Bisdak din ako.^^

  15. Lizeth Says:
    March 1st, 2008 at 1:47 pm

    astig! noon ko pa nga iniisip ano un eh :) thanks sa info :)

    kamusta?

  16. Manolo Says:
    March 3rd, 2008 at 10:24 pm

    Bisayang Dako…

    well… pwede na..

    parang Tagalog… taga-ilog.

    Tagalog is still the best Philippine language. The most complete and advanced language of the Philippines. :)

    :P

  17. david Says:
    April 24th, 2008 at 5:15 am

    i now know something that i did not, so glad that i found you and this blog

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