Mekong

See also: Mê Kông

English

Etymology

c. 19th c., from Thai แม่โขง (mɛ̂ɛ-kǒong, literally “Mother river”), contracted form of แม่น้ำโขง (mɛ̂ɛ-náam-kǒong).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmikɔŋ/, /mɛˈkɔːŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmikɔŋ/, enPR: měʹkôngʹ
• enPR: māʹkôngʹ

Proper noun

Mekong

1. A river in southeastern Asia that flows about 4,183 km (2,600 miles) from Tibet to the South China Sea in Vietnam.
   • 2022 June 1, “Mekong River in jeopardy: Sand-pumping operations ravage ecosystem”, in France 24‎^[1], archived from the original on June 01, 2022, Focus‎^[2]:

     The Mekong is one of the largest rivers in the world, beginning in China and flowing through Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Nearly 70 million people in Asia are dependent on its waters for fishing or to irrigate their rice fields.

   • 2023 September 1, “On the Mekong Through Laos”, in Deutsche Welle‎^[3], archived from the original on 02 September 2023, Nature and Environment‎^[4]:

     In the isolated villages, some of which are only accessible by boat, most Laotians live off the land. There are huge rice paddies on the fertile banks on the Mekong; rice is the Laotians’ main staple, eaten three times a day here.

   • 2024 March 4, Juarawee Kittisilpa, Panu Wongcha-um, “One-fifth of Mekong river fish species face extinction, report says”, in William Mallard, editor, Reuters‎^[5], archived from the original on December 28, 2024:

     Unsustainable development threatens the health and diverse fish populations of the Mekong river, with one-fifth of fish species in Southeast Asia's main artery facing extinction, a report by conservation groups said on Monday.
     The Mekong, stretching nearly 5,000 km (3,000 miles) from the Tibetan Plateau to the South China Sea, is a farming and fishing lifeline for tens of millions of people in China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Mekong.

Synonyms

• Mekong River

Translations

river in Asia

• Burmese: မဲခေါင်မြစ် (mai:hkaungmrac), မဲခေါင် (mai:hkaung)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (lower reaches) 湄公河 (zh) (Méigōng hé), (upper reaches) 瀾滄江 / 澜沧江 (zh) (Láncāng jiāng)

• Farefare: Mekoŋ
• Finnish: Mekong (fi)
• French: Mékong (fr) m
• German: Mekong (de) m
• Hungarian: Mekong (hu)
• Italian: Mekong m
• Japanese: メコン川 (Mekon-gawa)
• Khmer: ទន្លេមេកុង (tʊənlei meekoŋ), មេគង្គ (mee kʊəŋkea’)
• Khün: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 메콩강 (mekonggang)
• Lao: ແມ່ນ້ຳຂອງ (lo) (mǣ nam khǭng), ນ້ຳຂອງ (nam khǭng)
• Lü: ᦓᧄᧉᦃᦸᧂ (nam²ẋoang)
• Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: Mekong (pl) m
• Portuguese: Mekong m
• Russian: Меко́нг m (Mekóng)
• Shan: ၼမ်ႉၶွင် (shn) (nâ̰m khǎung), ၼမ်ႉမႄႈၶွင် (nâ̰m māae khǎung)
• Tai Dam: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: แม่น้ำโขง (th) (mɛ̂ɛ-náam-kǒong), แม่โขง (mɛ̂ɛ-kǒong), โขง (th) (kǒong)
• Tibetan: རྫ་ཆུ (rdza chu)
• Vietnamese: sông Mê Kông, sông Cửu Long, ("Great River") sông Lớn
• Zhuang: Dahmeizgunghhoz

See also

• Mekong Bobtail

Further reading

• “Mekong”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “Mekong, pn.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “Mekong”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “Mekong”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “Mekong” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2025.

Anagrams

• Möngke

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meˈkɔŋ/, /ˈmeːkɔŋ/ (latter especially in Mekongdelta)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

der Mekong m (proper noun, strong, usually definite, definite genitive des Mekong or des Mekongs)

1. Mekong (a river in Southeast Asia)

Derived terms

• Mekongdelta

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmɛkoŋɡ]
• Hyphenation: Me‧kong

Proper noun

Mekong

1. Mekong (a river in southeastern Asia)

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)

	singular	plural
nominative	Mekong	—
accusative	Mekongot	—
dative	Mekongnak	—
instrumental	Mekonggal	—
causal-final	Mekongért	—
translative	Mekonggá	—
terminative	Mekongig	—
essive-formal	Mekongként	—
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	Mekongban	—
superessive	Mekongon	—
adessive	Mekongnál	—
illative	Mekongba	—
sublative	Mekongra	—
allative	Mekonghoz	—
elative	Mekongból	—
delative	Mekongról	—
ablative	Mekongtól	—
non-attributive possessive – singular	Mekongé	—
non-attributive possessive – plural	Mekongéi	—

Possessive forms of Mekong

possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	Mekongom	—
2nd person sing.	Mekongod	—
3rd person sing.	Mekongja	—
1st person plural	Mekongunk	—
2nd person plural	Mekongotok	—
3rd person plural	Mekongjuk	—

Derived terms

• mekongi

Italian

Proper noun

Mekong m

1. Mekong

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.kɔŋk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkɔŋk
• Syllabification: Me‧kong

Proper noun

Mekong m

1. Mekong (a river in Asia)

Declension

Declension of Mekong

	singular
nominative	Mekong
genitive	Mekongu
dative	Mekongowi
accusative	Mekong
instrumental	Mekongiem
locative	Mekongu
vocative	Mekongu

Further reading

• Mekong in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Proper noun

Mekong m

1. Mekong (a river in southeast Asia)