To form an adjective

Sense of Excessiveness

To form an adjective with a sense of excessiveness and translate into English as ‘too + adjective’ (for example, too small, too large).

Root Word	Meaning	ke – Root Word – an	Synonym	Meaning
dingin	cold	kedinginan	terlalu dingin	too cold
besar	big	kebesaran*	terlalu besar	too big
terlalu	too	keterlaluan		too much, too far -of behaviour
merah	red	kemerahan	terlalu merah	too red

When ke-an is applied to base words indicating a particular part of the day, such as morning, afternoon or night, it means ‘something happens at an inappropriate time’. For example, coming home too lateat night or ringing someone too early in the morning.

Ke + Noun/Adverb + an can mean “to be caught by” or “to be overcome by”. 

Root Word	Meaning	ke – Root Word – an	Meaning
copet	pick pocket	kecopetan	to be overcome by pickpocketing to have your pocket picked
siang	midday	kesiangan	to be overcome by midday to accidentally sleep in
malam	night	kemalaman	to be overcome by night to accidentally stay out too late
hilang	lost/lose	kehilangan	to be overcome by loss to lose (an object)
curi	steal	kecurian	to be overcome by stealing to have something stolen

Exception

However, in a few cases this is not so. The followings are words on their own.

Root Word	Meaning	ke – Root Word – an	Meaning
besar	big	kebesaran	greatness, majesty
berat	heavy	keberatan	objection
merah	red	kemerahan	rather red
malu	shy	kemaluan	genitals
terang	clear	keterangan	explanation

Sense of Being Somewhat Similar

To form an adjective with a sense of being somewhat similar to the root word.

Root: merah (red) > ke + merah + an > kemerahan (reddish; rather red)

Root: biru (blue) > ke + biru + an > kebiruan (bluish; rather blue)

Several adjectives derived with prefix se- can form the base of a ke-..-an nouns:

Root Word	Meaning	ke – Root Word – an	Meaning
seimbang	balanced	keseimbangan	balance, equilibrium
sesuai	appropriate, suitable	kesesuaian	suitability, compatibility
seragam	uniform	keseragaman	uniformity
malu	shy	kemaluan	genitals
terang	clear	keterangan	explanation