High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Silat Melayu is a blanket term for the types of silat created in peninsular Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei and Singapore. The term is most often used to differentiate Malaysian styles from Indonesian pencak silat. Silat Melayu is sometimes mistakenly called bersilat but this is actually a verbal form of the noun silat.The etymological root of the word silat is uncertain and most hypotheses link it to any similar-sounding word. It may come from Si Elat which means someone who confuses, deceives or bluffs. A similar term, ilat, means an accident, misfortune or a calamity. Another theory is that it comes from silap meaning wrong or error. Some styles contain a set of techniques called Langkah Silap designed to lead the opponent into making a mistake.