mo

See also: Appendix:Variations of "mo"

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Moldovan, from Romanian Moldova.

Symbol

mo

  1. (international standards, obsolete) Former ISO 639-1 language code for Moldovan.

English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /məʊ/
  • (US) enPR: , IPA(key): /moʊ/
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊ

Etymology 1

From Middle English mo, from Old English , from Proto-Germanic *maiz, from a comparative form of Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-. Cognate with Swedish mer, Danish mer; and with Irish , Albanian . See also more, most.

Adverb

mo (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) To a greater degree.
  2. (now dialectal) Further, longer.

Adjective

mo (not comparable)

  1. (archaic, dialectal) Greater in amount, quantity, or number (of discrete objects, as opposed to more, which was applied to substances)

Etymology 2

Noun

mo (plural mos)

  1. Abbreviation of month.
    Alternative forms: m, mo.

Etymology 3

Noun

mo (uncountable)

  1. (colloquial) Clipping of moment.
    Synonyms: bit, sec, tick; see also Thesaurus:moment
    Hang on a mo!

Etymology 4

Clipping of homo, itself a short form of homosexual.

Noun

mo (plural mos)

  1. (slang) A homosexual.

Etymology 5

Only coincidentally similar to sense 1 above. Compare fo' (for; four), ho (whore).

Adjective

mo (not comparable)

  1. (dialectal, African-American Vernacular) Alternative form of mo' (more).
    Yo, you got mo chips?

Etymology 6

Clipping of moustache.

Noun

mo (plural mos)

  1. (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A moustache.

Etymology 7

Clipping.

Noun

mo (plural mos)

  1. (prison slang) A molester.
    • 2018, James Kühnel, Carceration State:
      The Idaho prison is full of cho-mos (child molesters), mos (molesters), and all types of sexual predators that have engaged in some type of abnormal sexual acts.

Etymology 8

Clipping.

Noun

mo (plural mos)

  1. (slang) A moron.
    • 1997, “Detox”, in City, performed by Strapping Young Lad:
      Hey, you mo! Hey, you mo! Hey, you mo! Hey, you mo!

Etymology 9

From mil, by analogy with do and gro.

Numeral

mo

  1. The cardinal number occurring after el gro el do el (↋↋↋) and before mo one (1001) in a duodecimal system. Written 1000, decimal value 1728.

See also

See also

Anagrams

Abau

Particle

mo

  1. (emphatic) really, even
  2. marks the topic of the clause, sentence, or conversation
  3. marks the preceding plural NP as genitive (association or possession)
  4. indicates the interrogative

Adverb

mo

  1. indicates the negative

References

  • Abau Dictionary © 2020 SIL International (Available online: [2])

Abinomn

Noun

mo

  1. (anatomy) stomach

Adangme

Pronoun

mo

  1. you
    I suɔ mo.
    I love you.

Akan

Pronoun

mo

  1. ye, you (plural)

Albanian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *mē, from Proto-Indo-European *méh₁ (prohibitive particle).

Particle

mo (masculine adjectival i mo, feminine singular e mo, masculine plural mo, feminine plural moa)

  1. don't

Alemannic German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle High German man, from Old High German man, from Proto-Germanic *mann-. Cognate with German Mann, Dutch man, English man, Icelandic maður, Swedish man, Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌰 (manna).

Noun

mo m (Carcoforo)

  1. man
  2. husband

References

Amanab

Noun

mo

  1. speech, language, word

Angguruk Yali

Noun

mo

  1. mountain

References

Antillean Creole

Etymology

From French mot (word).

Noun

mo

  1. word

Bikol Central

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mo/ [mo]

Adjective

mo

  1. second person singular possessive adjective; your

Dongxiang

Etymology

From Proto-Mongolic *mör (trail, path), compare Mongolian мөр (mör, road, path).

Pronunciation

Noun

mo

  1. road, path
    nie fade bi zhin mo jiere yawuzhi saozhi wo.
    one time I was walking on the road.

Esperanto

Pronunciation

  • Audio:(file)
  • IPA(key): /mo/
  • Rhymes: -o
  • Hyphenation: mo

Noun

mo (accusative singular mo-on, plural mo-oj, accusative plural mo-ojn)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter M/m.

See also

Finnish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmoˣ/, [ˈmo̞(ʔ)]
  • Rhymes: -o
  • Syllabification(key): mo
  • Hyphenation(key): mo

Interjection

mo

  1. (slang, colloquial) clipping of moi (hi, hello)

Galician

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [mʊ]

Contraction

mo (plural mos, feminine singular ma, feminine plural mas)

  1. contraction of me o
    Damo!Give it to me!

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French mot (word).

Pronunciation

Noun

mo

  1. word

Irish

Alternative forms

  • m’ (used before vowel sounds)

Etymology

From Old Irish mo, mu; see there for more.

Pronunciation

Determiner

mo (triggers lenition)

  1. my
    mo bhádmy boat
    mo mháthairmy mother
  2. me (direct object pronoun before verbal noun)
    Tá sé ag mo bhualadhHe is hitting me

See also

Irish personal pronouns
person conjunctive
(emphatic)
disjunctive
(emphatic)
possessive
determiner
singular first
(mise)
mo L
m' before vowel sounds
second
(tusa)1
thú
(thusa)
do L
d' before vowel sounds
third m
(seisean)
é
(eisean)
a L
f
(sise)
í
(ise)
a H
n ea
plural first muid, sinn
(muidne, muide), (sinne)
ár E
second sibh
(sibhse)1
bhur E
third siad
(siadsan)
iad
(iadsan)
a E

L Triggers lenition   E Triggers eclipsis   H Triggers h-prothesis

1 Also used as the vocative

The reflexive is formed by adding féin to the relevant pronoun.
For instance, "myself" = mé féin, "yourselves" = sibh féin.

References

  1. ^ Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry [Phonetics of an Irish Dialect of Kerry] (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, page 88
  2. ^ Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, page 9

Further reading

  • Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “mo”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
  • de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “mo”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
  • mo”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2025

Italian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Latin modo (recently, just now)[1] or Latin mox (soon), possibly a merger of both.

Pronunciation

Adverb

mo (dialectal or colloquial)

  1. (in the present) now
    Synonyms: ora, adesso
    E mo che voi?
    What do you want now?
    Mo so' cazzi tua.
    It's your business now.
  2. (in the near future) soon, in a moment
    Synonyms: subito, tra poco
    E n'attimo! Mo lo faccio!
    Wait a second! I'll do it in a moment!
    Aspetta! Mo arivo!
    Wait! I'm coming!
    Mo te faccio vedé.
    I'll show you.
  3. (in the near past) recently, just now
    Synonyms: appena, poco fa
    Ce so' stato mo.
    I've been there just now.
  4. (originally ironic) See da mo.
  5. (repeated) See mo mo.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 mo in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
  2. 2.0 2.1 mo in Bruno Migliorini et al., Dizionario d'ortografia e di pronunzia, Rai Eri, 2025
  3. 3.0 3.1 mo in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Further reading

Japanese

Romanization

mo

  1. The hiragana syllable (mo) or the katakana syllable (mo) in Hepburn romanization.

Kalasha

Etymology

From Sanskrit मा (mā́), from Proto-Indo-European *méh₁ (prohibitive particle). Cognate with Hindi मत (mat), Persian مـ (ma-), Albanian mo.

Particle

mo

  1. do not, don't (prohibitive particle)

Kamkata-viri

Etymology

From Common Nuristani *māi, probably an early borrowing of Middle Chinese (mejX). Compare Ashkun , Tregami myä, Waigali .

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmo/

Noun

mo (Kamviri)[1]

  1. husked rice

References

  1. ^ Strand, Richard F. (2016) “m′o”, in Nûristânî Etymological Lexicon[1]

Kapampangan

Etymology

From mu +‎ ya.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈman/ [ˈmän]

Adverb

mo

  1. although; even if; even though
    Synonyms: agyang, man
  2. also; no matter what; and
    Synonyms: din, pati, agyaman, ampo
    MipakananumoNo matter what happens.
    YakumoMe as well.
    Sinabianan nakung nanumo.S/he also told me something.

Derived terms

Pronoun

mo

  1. alternative spelling of mula
  2. alternative spelling of muya
  3. alternative spelling of mu
  4. alternative spelling of me
Kapampangan personal pronouns
absolute ergative oblique
disjunctive enclitic
first
person
singular aku/i aku/yaku ku kanaku
plural inclusive ikatamu katamu/tamu tamu/ta kekatamu
plural exclusive ikami, ike kami/ke mi kekami/keke
second
person
singular ika ka mu keka
plural ikayu/iko kayu/ko yu kekayu/keko
third
person
singular iya/ya ya na keya/kaya
plural ila la da/ra karela

Lashi

Pronunciation

  • (Waingmaw) IPA(key): [mɔ˧˧]
  • (Chipwe) IPA(key): [mɔ˨˩]
  • (Mongko) IPA(key): [mɔ˥˧]
  • Hyphenation: mo

Postposition

mo

  1. from, away from
    • 2005, “Apoem ayang꞉ 1:4 [Genesis 1:4]”, in Jhoem꞉ mougsougˮ [The Book of the Bible]‎[3], page 2:
      Houg꞉ lho꞉ nyang꞉ gi booˮ bang ri moug꞉ coid mo khoʼ pyam
      Then he split the light from the darkness

Derived terms

References

  • Mark Wannemacher (2011) A phonological overview of the Lacid language[4], Chiang Mai: Payap University., page 30
  • Hkaw Luk (2017) A grammatical sketch of Lacid[5], Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis), page 24

Latin

Noun

mo

  1. (Medieval Latin, historical) abbreviation of monētārius (moneyer, minter) in its various forms.

Lolopo

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [mo³³]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Loloish *C-ma³ (Bradley), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan. Cognate with Burmese -မ (-ma.).

Suffix

mo

  1. (Yao'an) female
See also

Etymology 2

From Proto-Loloish *ma¹ (Bradley). Cognate with Nuosu (ma), Naxi meel.

Noun

mo 

  1. (Yao'an) bamboo

Louisiana Creole

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Probably inherited from French "moi/mon".”)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mo/
  • Rhymes: -o
  • Homophone:

Pronoun

mo (first person singular, plural nouzòt, nou, no, objective , possessive determiner , possessive pronoun mokin, mochin)

  1. I (first person singular nominative (subject) pronoun)
    Mo té manké twa.
    I missed you.

Derived terms

  • (prevocalic) m'

Mandarin

Romanization

mo (mo5 / mo0, Zhuyin ˙ㄇㄛ)

  1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of  / ,  / , ,

mo

  1. nonstandard spelling of
  2. nonstandard spelling of
  3. nonstandard spelling of
  4. nonstandard spelling of

Usage notes

  • Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Matlatzinca

Noun

mo

  1. foot

References

  • Roberto Escalante Hernández, Marciano Hernández, Matlatzinca de San Francisco Oxtotilpan, Estado de México (1999)

Mauritian Creole

Etymology 1

From French moi (me).

Pronoun

mo (objective mwa)

  1. I (first-person singular nominative personal pronoun)
See also
Mauritian Creole personal pronouns
singular plural
1st person mo
mwa (objective)
nou
2nd person to (informal), ou (formal)
twa (objective)
zot
3rd person li zot, bann-la

Etymology 2

From French mot (word).

Noun

mo

  1. word

Alternative spelling: mot.

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English , from Proto-Germanic *maiz, from a comparative form of Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mɔː/
  • Rhymes: -ɔː

Adjective

mo

  1. more numerous; larger in amount
  2. greater in quantity or intensity
  3. additional, further, other (persons or things in addition to those mentioned)
  4. higher in social status

Adverb

mo

  1. to a greater degree; more
  2. longer, again, any more
  3. besides, also, further, else

Derived terms

Descendants

  • English: mo

References

Norman

Etymology

From Latin mollis.

Adjective

mo m

  1. (Jersey) soft

Derived terms

Northern Sami

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

  • (Kautokeino) IPA(key): /ˈmoː/

Adverb

  1. how

Further reading

  • Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages[6], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Believed to be from the noun moe.

Adjective

mo (neuter singular mo or mott, definite singular and plural mo or moe)

  1. close, sultry

Etymology 2

From Old Norse moðr.

Alternative forms

Adjective

mo (neuter singular mo, definite singular and plural mo or moe)

  1. tired, weary

Etymology 3

From Old Norse mór (moor).

Noun

mo m (definite singular moen, indefinite plural moer, definite plural moene)

  1. moor, heath
  2. (military) drill ground

Etymology 4

From Old Norse moð.

Noun

mo n (definite singular moet, indefinite plural mo, definite plural moa or moene)

  1. dust (e.g. sawdust)
  2. chaff (e.g. from hay)

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse mór (moor), from Proto-Germanic *mōraz.

Noun

mo m (definite singular moen, indefinite plural moar, definite plural moane)

  1. moor, heath
  2. (military) drill ground

Etymology 2

Perhaps from the noun moe m.

Adjective

mo (neuter singular mo or mott, definite singular and plural mo or moe)

  1. close, sultry

Etymology 3

From Old Norse móðr, from Proto-Germanic *mōdaz.

Alternative forms

  • mod (alternative spelling)

Adjective

mo (neuter singular mo, definite singular and plural mo or moe)

  1. tired, weary

Etymology 4

From Old Norse moð.

Alternative forms

  • (alternative spelling)

Noun

mo n (definite singular moet, indefinite plural mo, definite plural moa)

  1. dust (e.g. sawdust)
  2. chaff (e.g. from hay)

Etymology 5

From German, originally moder.

Adverb

mo

  1. Used as an intensifier about loneliness
    Synonym: mutters

Etymology 6

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

mo

  1. imperative of moa

References

Anagrams

Old Irish

Alternative forms

  • mu
  • m’ (used before vowel sounds)

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *mene, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁mene, genitive of *éǵh₂. The Goidelic forms came from *mene being remodelled into *mowe by analogy with *towe (your) (whence do (your)).[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [mo]

Determiner

mo (triggers lenition)

  1. my
    • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 10d23
      Mad ar lóg pridcha-sa, .i. ar m’étiuth et mo thoschith, ním·bia fochricc dar hési mo precepte.
      If I preach for pay, that is, for my clothing and my sustenance, I shall not have a reward for my teaching.
    • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 73d1
      Fu·lilsain-se .i. matis mu námait duda·gnetis ⁊ maniptis mu chara⟨i⟩t duda·gnetis.
      I would have endured, i.e. if it had been my enemies who did them and if it had not been my friends who did them.

Descendants

  • Irish: mo
  • Scottish Gaelic: mo
  • Manx: my

References

  1. ^ Schrijver, Peter C. H. (1995) Studies in British Celtic historical phonology (Leiden studies in Indo-European; 5), Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, page 333

Further reading

Old Occitan

Pronoun

mo m (feminine ma, masculine plural mos)

  1. my (possessive; belong to 'me')

Portuguese

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mu/

  • Hyphenation: mo

Contraction

mo (feminine ma)

  1. contraction of me o (him/it to me)

Réunion Creole French

Etymology

From French mot (word).

Noun

mo

  1. word

Samoan

Preposition

mo

  1. for

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish mo. Cognates include Irish mo.

Determiner

mo (triggers lenition)

  1. my

See also

Scottish Gaelic possessive determiners
singular plural
+ C + V + C + V
first person moL m' ar arN
second person doL d' ur urN
third person m aL an, am1 an
f a aH

L Triggers lenition; H Triggers H-prothesis; N Triggers eclipsis
1 Used before b-, f-, m- or p-

References

Swahili

Pronunciation

Verb

-mo

  1. present stem of -wamo (to be (inside there))
    wamothey are inside

See also

  • -mo: verbal affix
  • -wapo (to be (at a definite place))
  • -wako (to be (at an indefinite place))

Swedish

Noun

mo c

  1. sandy soil
  2. a sandy field, a moor, a heath

Declension

Derived terms

Anagrams

Tagalog

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *-mu (2sg. possessor and agent of passive verb). Compare Malay -mu.

Pronunciation

Adjective

mo (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜓ)

  1. second person singular possessive adjective; your

See also

Further reading

  • mo”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
  • Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*-mu”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

Tuvaluan

Preposition

mo

  1. for

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Compare Tày bo, which suggests previous *ɓ-.

Noun

mo • (𥷺, )

  1. (botany) spathe of the areca tree
    quạt moa fan made from areca spathes
Derived terms
  • mặt mo

Etymology 2

Of Tai origin, compare Thai หมอ (mɔ̌ɔ).

Noun

mo

  1. short for thầy mo

Welsh

Etymology

Reduced form of ddim o (not of, nothing of).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mɔ/

Particle

mo (causes soft mutation)

  1. (colloquial) negative particle used when immediately preceding the definite article or a definite noun phrase
    Fwytais i mo'r moron.I didn't eat the carrots.
    Wela i mo'r ffilm 'na.I will not see that film.
    Chlywoch chi mo Owain.You didn't hear Owain.
    Leician nhw mo wraig y dyn.They wouldn't like the man's wife.

Usage notes

Because this form is used only when directly in front of a definite object, it only appears in the (non-periphrastic) preterite, future and conditional tenses.

In front of a pronoun, mo has personal forms the same as the preposition o:

Personal forms (literary & colloquial)
singular plural
first person mohono mohonon
second person mohonot mohonoch
third person mohono m
mohoni f
mohonyn

See also

  • dim, ddim (negative particle used in all other situations)

Mutation

Does not mutate.

West Makian

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Verb

mo

  1. (transitive) to swallow
  2. (transitive) to slurp up, to suck up
Conjugation
Conjugation of mo (action verb)
singular plural
inclusive exclusive
1st person tomo momo amo
2nd person nomo fomo
3rd person inanimate imo domo
animate
imperative nomo, mo fomo, mo

Etymology 2

For the semantic development of the interjection, compare Spanish ya (already; come on!).

Pronunciation

Adverb

mo

  1. alternative form of omo (already)

Interjection

mo

  1. come!
  2. come on!

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Verb

mo

  1. (stative) alternative form of mu (ripe)
Conjugation
Conjugation of mo (stative verb)
singular plural
inclusive exclusive
1st person timo mimo amo
2nd person nimo fimo
3rd person inanimate imo dimo
animate mamo
imperative —, mo —, mo

References

  • James Collins (1982) Further Notes Towards a West Makian Vocabulary[7], Pacific linguistics
  • Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours[8], Pacific linguistics

Yao

Yao cardinal numbers
 <  0 1 2  > 
    Cardinal : mo

Etymology

Cognates include Swahili moja.

Numeral

mo

  1. one

Usage notes

This number follows a noun and takes the noun class characteristic prefix, e.g. libweta limo (one box). See the Yao language article on Wikipedia for details on noun class prefixes.

Yoruba

Alternative forms

  • mi (used in a negative sentence, or generally in some dialects)
  • n (used in negative or future sentences, or with )

Pronoun

mo

  1. I (first-person singular personal pronoun)

See also

Yoruba personal pronouns
subject object1 emphatic
affirmative negative
singular 1st person mo / mi mi èmi
2nd person o / ìwọ
3rd person ó [pronoun dropped] [preceding vowel repeated for mono­syllabic verbs] / ẹ̀ òun
plural 1st person a wa àwa
2nd person yín ẹ̀yin
3rd person wọ́n wọn wọn àwọn
1 Except for yín, object pronouns have a high tone following a low or mid tone monosyllabic verb, and a mid tone following a high tone. For complex verbs, the tone does not change.