འོག་མ

Tibetan

Etymology

འོག ('og, “below”) +‎ མ (ma, specifier suffix)

Pronunciation

• Old Tibetan: /*ɣok.ma/
• Lhasa: /ʔo(k̚)ˀ˩˨.ma˥˨/

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• Old Tibetan:
  • IPA^(key): /*ɣok.ma/ (reconstructed)
• Ü-Tsang
  • Tibetan pinyin: og^v-ma^h
  • (Lhasa) IPA^(key): /ʔo(k̚)ˀ˩˨.ma˥˨/

Noun

འོག་མ • ('og ma)

1. later, what comes after, the following
2. the lesser
3. (family) younger sibling

   Coordinate terms: གཅུང་པོ (gcung po), གཅུང་མོ (gcung mo), ནུ་བོ (nu bo), ནུ་མོ (nu mo), ཨ་ནུ (a nu)

Usage notes

In Lhasa Tibetan, and by extension Modern Standard Tibetan, it is usual to refer to younger siblings with འོག་མ ('og ma), without specifying younger brother or younger sister unless otherwise required. Compare Korean 동생 (dongsaeng) and Vietnamese em.

References

• “འོག་མ” in The Tibetan Living Dictionary, Mandala Collections, 2021.