Malaysian Street Names: What do all those strange words mean?

Usually we see Jalan (Road) and Lorong (Lane). But what about Changkat, Solok, Pesara, Gat Lebuh, Regat, or Selasar?

Answers below. 

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In Penang you find the greatest variety of street names other than Jalan and Lorong. Here's a primer from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_streets_in_George_Town,_Penang



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In translating the English words for street, road, lane, etc., the city authorities follow a fairly regular system to avoid confusion between many streets of similar names. There are exceptions to this rule where the historic Malay usage is different and there is no chance of confusion, e.g. Hutton Lane has always been known as Jalan Hutton (see e.g. the Mesjid Jalan Hatin (mosque) there) rather than *Lorong Hutton.

Avenue - Lebuhraya (e.g. Peel Avenue/Lebuhraya Peel; context usually prevents confusion with the normal meaning of lebuhraya, viz. highway/expressway)
Circus - Lilitan (e.g. Hargreaves Circus/Lilitan Hargreaves)
Close - Solok (e.g. Scott Close/Solok Scott)
Court - Halaman (e.g. Cantonment Court/Halaman Cantonment)
Crescent - Lengkok (e.g. Jesselton Crescent/Lengkok Jesselton)
Cross - Lintang (e.g. Burmah Cross/Lintang Burma)
Drive - Persiaran (e.g. Gurney Drive/Pesiaran Gurney)
Gardens - Taman (e.g. Western Gardens/Taman Western)
Lane - Lorong (e.g. Prangin Lane/Lorong Perangin)
Place - Pesara (e.g. Claimant Place/Pesara Claimant)
Quay - Pengkalan (e.g. Weld Quay/Pengkalan Weld)
Road - Jalan (e.g. Perak Road/Jalan Perak)
Square - Medan (e.g. College Square/Medan Maktab; also used for some new square-shaped roads that are not open squares, e.g. York Square/Medan York)
Street - Lebuh (e.g. Campbell Street/Lebuh Campbell)
Street Ghaut - Gat Lebuh (e.g. China Street Ghaut/Gat Lebuh China)
Terrace - Tingkat (e.g. Erskine Terrace/Tingkat Erskine)

The word "Ghaut" at the end of some street names reflects the fact that they are extensions of the original streets beyond the original waterfront at Beach St with the reclamation of the Ghauts and the construction of Weld Quay, ghat being a Hindi and Bengali word meaning a flight of steps leading down to a body of water.




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In Ipoh you can find Hala, Regat, and Selasar.

Crossing - Regat (e.g. Canton Crossing/Regat Canton, Maxwell Crossing/Regat Maxwell)
Extension - Selasar (e.g. Chateau Extension/Selasar Chateau, Rokam Extension/Selasar Rokam)
Way - Hala (e.g. Pari Garden Way/Hala Taman Pari, Wah Keong Way/Hala Wah Keong)

In Kuala Lumpur you can find Changkat.

Heights - Changkat (e.g. Bukit Bintang Heights/Changkat Bukit Bintang, Semantan Heights/Changkat Semantan)

Meanings sourced from Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu @DBP
http://prpm.dbp.gov.my/Search.aspx?
(Meanings of those "rare" words given in Malay only. I translated them based on what I know of the language.)