mā

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ma"

Ashkun

Etymology

From Common Nuristani *māi, probably an early borrowing of Middle Chinese 米 (mei^X). Compare Tregami myä, Waigali mä, Kamkata-viri mo.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmaː/

Noun

mā (Sanu)^[1]

husked rice

References

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

Hokkien

For pronunciation and definitions of mā – see 嘛 (“also”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 嘛).

Japanese

Romanization

mā

Rōmaji transcription of まあ

Mandarin

Alternative forms

ma — nonstandard

Romanization

mā (ma¹, Zhuyin ㄇㄚ)

Hanyu Pinyin reading of 媽 / 妈
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 嬤 / 嬷
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 孑
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 抵
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 摨
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 擳 / 𰓜
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 虿
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 蚂
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 麵 / 面
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 抹

Maori

Etymology 1

Contraction of marama.^[1]

Noun

mā

(colour/color) white

Etymology 2

Particle

mā

for (representing future possession)
Mā Mū tēnei pukapuka. ― This book is for Mū.
by, made by, acted on (combined with e to indicate future tense for who will perform an action)
Mā tōku matua koe e whakahoki. ― My father will take you back.
(used with hei to show a relationship)
Hei irāmutu a Aroha mā Hēni. ― Aroha is Jane's niece.
by way of; via; through
Ka haere rātou mā Taupō. ― They'll go via Taupō.
by means of; on (followed by runga)
Haere ai tō mātau pāpā ki tana mahi mā runga hōiho. ― Our father went to his work by horseback.
(used in names to represent the points of a compass)
marangai mā tonga ― southeasterly wind

References

^ Stack, James W. (1879) “Notes on the Colour Sense of the Maori”, in Transactions and the Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand‎^[2], volume 12, number 2, Royal Society of New Zealand, pages 153–158

“mā” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.

Marshallese

Pronunciation

(phonetic) IPA^(key): [mʲæ]
(phonemic) IPA^(key): /mʲæj/
Bender phonemes: {may}

Noun

mā

breadfruit.

References

Marshallese–English Online Dictionary

Namuyi

Etymology

Probably from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r/g/s-pʷa. Cognate to Burmese ဝါး (wa:).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ma˨˨˦]

Noun

mā

bamboo

Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative scripts

𑀫𑀸 (Brahmi script)
मा (Devanagari script)
মা (Bengali script)
මා (Sinhalese script)
မာ or မႃ (Burmese script)
มา (Thai script)
ᨾᩣ (Tai Tham script)
ມາ (Lao script)
មា (Khmer script)
𑄟𑄂 (Chakma script)

Etymology 1

Inherited from Sanskrit मा (mā, “do not”).

Particle

mā

(prohibitive) do not

Etymology 2

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

Noun

mā f

mother
moon

Samoan

Pronoun

mā

First person dual exclusive
we (he/she and I, but not you)

Tocharian B

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *meh₁ (prohibitive particle). Cognate with Sanskrit मा (mā), Avestan 𐬨𐬁 (mā), Ancient Greek μή (mḗ), Albanian mo, Old Armenian մի (mi), Old Persian 𐎶𐎠 (m-a /⁠mā⁠/), Persian (ma-).

Particle

mā

no, not
(before an adjective) un-, in-

Tokelauan

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈmaː]
Hyphenation: mā

Etymology 1

From Proto-Polynesian *maqa.

Noun

mā

(to a male) brother-in-law (one's sister's husband)
(to a male) cousin-in-law (one's cousin's husband)

Etymology 2

From Proto-Polynesian *ma. Cognates include Tuvaluan maa and Samoan mā.

Noun

mā

Verb

mā (plural mamā)

(stative) to be ashamed
(stative) to be embarrassed

Etymology 3

From Proto-Polynesian *maqa. Cognates include Maori mā and Samoan mā.

Preposition

mā

Marks the intent of an alianably possessed object; for, about

Etymology 4

From Proto-Polynesian *ma. Cognates include Tuvaluan maa and Samoan mā.

Pronoun

mā

we two (exclusive)

Tokelauan personal pronouns
Independent
	singular	dual		plural
	singular	long	short	plural
1st person (exclusive)	au, kita¹	ki māua	ki mā	ki mātou
1st person (inclusive)	―	ki tāua	ki tā	ki tātou
2nd person	koe	koulua		koutou
3rd person	ia	ki lāua	ki lā	ki lātou

Agentive clitic
	singular	dual		plural
1st person (exclusive)	kō	ki mā		ki mātou
1st person (inclusive)	―	ki tā		ki tātou
2nd person	kē	koulua		koutou
3rd person	ia	ki lā		ki lātou

¹⁾ Sympathetic
^*) Pronouns preceded by ki may drop this preposition when in a possessive phrase.

Tokelauan possessive pronouns
Inalienable (O-type)
	singular	dual		plural
	singular	long	short	plural
1st person (exclusive)	o oku, o kita¹	o māua	o mā	o mātou
1st person (inclusive)	―	o tāua	o tā	o tātou
2nd person	o ōu, o koe	o koulua		o koutou
3rd person	o ona	o lāua	o lā	o lātou

Alienable (A-type)
	singular	dual		plural
	singular	long	short	plural
1st person (exclusive)	a aku, a kita¹	a māua	a mā	a mātou
1st person (inclusive)	―	a tāua	a tā	a tātou
2nd person	a āu, a koe	a koulua		a koutou
3rd person	a ana	a lāua	a lā	a lātou

¹⁾ Sympathetic
*) Only the singular pronouns differ from the personal pronouns

Tokelauan possessive determiners
Definite inalienable (O-type)
		singular reference				plural reference
		sg	du		pl	sg	du		pl
		sg	long	short	pl	sg	long	short	pl
1st person	excl.	toku, tota¹	to māua	to mā	to mātou	oku, ota¹	o māua	o mā	o mātou
1st person	incl.	―	to tāua	to tā	to tātou	―	o tāua	o tā	o tātou
2nd person		tō	toulua		toutou	ō	oulua		outou
3rd person		tona	to lāua	to lā	to lātou	ona	o lāua	o lā	o lātou

Definite alienable (A-type)
		singular reference				plural reference
		sg	du		pl	sg	du		pl
		sg	long	short	pl	sg	long	short	pl
1st person	excl.	taku, tata¹	ta māua	ta mā	ta mātou	aku, ata¹	a māua	a mā	a mātou
1st person	incl.	―	ta tāua	ta tā	ta tātou	―	a tāua	a tā	a tātou
2nd person		tau	taulua		tautou	au	aulua		autou
3rd person		tana	ta lāua	ta lā	ta lātou	ana	a lāua	a lā	a lātou

Indefinite inalienable (O-type)
		singular reference				plural reference
		sg	du		pl	sg	du		pl
		sg	long	short	pl	sg	long	short	pl
1st person	excl.	hoku, hota¹	ho māua	ho mā	ho mātou	ni oku, ni ota¹	ni o māua	ni o mā	ni o mātou
1st person	incl.	―	ho tāua	ho tā	ho tātou	―	ni o tāua	ni o tā	ni o tātou
2nd person		hō	houlua		houtou	ni ō	ni oulua		ni outou
3rd person		hona	ho lāua	ho lā	ho lātou	ni ona	ni o lāua	ni o lā	ni o lātou

Indefinite alienable (A-type)
		singular reference				plural reference
		sg	du		pl	sg	du		pl
		sg	long	short	pl	sg	long	short	pl
1st person	excl.	haku, hata¹	ha māua	ha mā	ha mātou	ni aku, ni ata¹	ni a māua	ni a mā	ni a mātou
1st person	incl.	―	ha tāua	ha tā	ha tātou	―	ni a tāua	ni a tā	ni a tātou
2nd person		hau	haulua		hautou	ni au	ni aulua		ni autou
3rd person		hana	ha lāua	ha lā	ha lātou	ni ana	ni a lāua	ni a lā	ni a lātou

¹⁾ Sympathetic

Etymology 5

Verb

mā

(transitive) to presume, assume, think

Etymology 6

Borrowed from Samoan ma'a.

Noun

mā

object made of stone

References

R. Simona, editor (1986), Tokelau Dictionary‎^[4], Auckland: Office of Tokelau Affairs, page 198

Tongan

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *mara (“to spoil, to go foul [of food]” – compare with Maori mara “food preserved by steeping in water”, Samoan mala “soft [of food]” and Fijian mara “stench of a corpse”).^[1]^[2] For sense of bread, compare with Fijian madrai for similar semantic evolution.

Noun

mā

preserve of fermented breadfruit, bananas or plantain stored in pits prior^[3]
1. grain-based bread introduced by Westerners

References

^ Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), “mara”, in POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online
^ Ross, Malcolm D., Pawley, Andrew, Osmond, Meredith (1998) The lexicon of Proto-Oceanic, volume 1: Material Culture, Canberra: Australian National University, →ISBN, pages 158-9
^ Pollock, Nancy (1984) “Breadfruit Fermentation Practices in Oceania”, in Journal de la Société des Océanistes‎^[3], volume 40, number 79, →DOI, pages 157, 164

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

[2] Stack, James W. (1879) “Notes on the Colour Sense of the Maori”, in Transactions and the Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand‎^[2], volume 12, number 2, Royal Society of New Zealand, pages 153–158

[3] Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), “mara”, in POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online

[4] Ross, Malcolm D., Pawley, Andrew, Osmond, Meredith (1998) The lexicon of Proto-Oceanic, volume 1: Material Culture, Canberra: Australian National University, →ISBN, pages 158-9

[5] Pollock, Nancy (1984) “Breadfruit Fermentation Practices in Oceania”, in Journal de la Société des Océanistes‎^[3], volume 40, number 79, →DOI, pages 157, 164

[1]

[1]

[1]

[2]

[3]

tea, mā	kiwikiwi	pango
mea, kura, whero	karaka; parauri	kōwhai, renga
	kāriki, kākāriki	kārikiuri
	kikorangi	kahurangi
tūāuri	waiporoporo	māwhero

	singular	dual	plural
1st person	aʻu, ʻou	māʻua, mā (exclusive) tāʻua, tā (inclusive)	mātou (exclusive) tātou (inclusive)
2nd person	ʻoe, ʻe	ʻoulua	ʻoutou, tou
3rd person	ia, na	lāʻua	lātou