meu

See also: meü and MEU

English

Etymology 1

Meu

From Latin mēum (“umbelliferous plant, Meum athamanticum”), from Ancient Greek μῆον (mêon), probably from μεῖον (meîon, “lesser”) for its small size. The English form came perhaps via Middle French meu, a word with a single isolated attestation from the 14th century which only began to appear consistently from 1568, by which time the word was established in English.

Alternative forms

• (rare) mew

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmjuː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmju/
• Rhymes: -uː

Noun

meu (uncountable)

1. Meum athamanticum, a European herb.

   Synonyms: meon, meum, baldmoney, spignel, bearwort

Translations

Meum athamanticum — see baldmoney

References

• Meum athamanticum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Meum athamanticum on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Meum athamanticum on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Fon mɛ̀wú (“meu”).

Alternative forms

• Meu
• mehu, Mehu

Noun

meu (plural meus)

1. (historical) The second minister of the Kingdom of Dahomey.

   Coordinate term: migan

Anagrams

• EMU, UME, Ume, emu, mue, ume

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• a meu
• (a) njeu

Etymology

From Latin meus, from Proto-Italic *meos. Compare Romanian meu.

Pronoun

meu m (feminine mea or meaea, masculine plural mei, feminine plural meali or meale)

1. my; first-person masculine singular possessive pronoun

Usage notes

Always preceded by 'a'- "a meu".

Related terms

• miui
• nju

See also

• (a) tãu
• (a) lui, (a) ljei
• (a) nostru
• (a) vostru
• (a) lor

Catalan

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Catalan meu, from Latin meum, from Proto-Italic *meos. The feminine form was mia in Old Catalan, but this was extended to meva or meua by analogy with the masculine form. This happened because the -u was not understood as a masculine ending anymore, having been lost in nouns (unlike Spanish, Portuguese and Italian -o).

The weak possessive mon is also from Latin meum, but as an unstressed monosyllabic form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈmew]

Pronoun

meu (feminine meva or meua, masculine plural meus, feminine plural meves or meues)

1. my, mine

Usage notes

• When preceding a noun, meu is always preceded by the appropriate definite article.

  el meu gos ― my dog

• Also used after some prepositions:

  dins meu ― inside me

  davant meu ― in front of me

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

	strong/subject	weak (direct object)		weak (indirect object)		possessive
singular		proclitic	enclitic	proclitic	enclitic
1st person	jo, mi3	em, m’	-me, ’m	em, m’	-me, ’m	meu
1st person majestic1	nós	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	tu	et, t’	-te, ’t	et, t’	-te, ’t	teu
2nd person formal1	vós	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person very formal2	vostè	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person masculine	ell	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person feminine	ella	la, l’4	-la	li	-li	seu
3rd person neuter		ho	-ho	li	-li	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
plural
1st person	nosaltres	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	vosaltres	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person formal2	vostès	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person masculine	ells	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person feminine	elles	les	-les	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
adverbial
ablative/genitive		en, n’	-ne, ’n
locative		hi	-hi
1) Behaves grammatically as plural. 2) Behaves grammatically as third person.			3) Only as object of a preposition. 4) Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-.

See also

• mon

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic.

Alternative forms

• mèu (pre-2016 spelling)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈmɛw]

Interjection

meu

1. meow

Noun

meu m (plural meus)

1. meow

   Synonym: miol

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin mēum.

Alternative forms

• mèu (pre-2016 spelling)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈmɛw]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) unknown
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈmew]

Noun

meu m (plural meus)

1. baldmoney, spignel

Further reading

• “meu” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “meu” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Fala

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese medo, inherited from Latin metus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeu̯/
• Rhymes: -eu̯
• Syllabification: meu

Noun

meu m (plural meus)

1. fear

References

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021) Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎^[1], 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN

Galician

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese meu, from Latin meus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmew/, /ˈmɛw/

Pronoun

meu m (masculine singular meu, masculine plural meus, feminine singular miña, feminine plural miñas)

1. (possessive) my

   Este é o meu coche ― This is my car

2. (possessive) mine

   Este coche é meu ― This car is mine

Interjection

meu

1. man; dude; pal; bro

   Éche o que hai, meu. Hai que roelo ― Things are like that, bro. You must face it

   Meu! Fixéchelo! ― Dude! You did it!

See also

• Appendix:Galician pronouns

References

• “meu”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2024
• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “meu”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “meu”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “meu”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “meu”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “meu”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Ligurian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μῶλος (môlos), μόλος (mólos), itself from Latin mōlēs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /møː/

Noun

meu m (invariable)

1. jetty, pier, mole
   • 1984, “Sidón”, in Fabrizio De André (lyrics), Mauro Pagani (music), Crêuza de mâ [Muletrack by the sea], performed by Fabrizio De André:

     E dòpp'i færi in gôa, i færi da prixón / e 'nte ferîe a seménsa velenóza da deportaçión / perché de nòstro, da-a cianûa a-o meu / no peu ciù crésce ni èrbo, ni spîga, ni figeu

     And after the iron in the throat, the iron of the prison, and the poisonous seed of deportation inside the wounds, because no tree, or spike, or boy of ours is allowed to grow any longer, from the plain to the pier

Old Catalan

Etymology

From Latin meum.

Adjective

meu (feminine mia, masculine plural meus, feminine plural mies)

1. my, mine

   Synonym: mon

Descendants

• Catalan: meu

Old French

Alternative forms

• meü (diaereses not universally used in transcriptions of Old French)

Verb

meu

1. past participle of movoir

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese meu, from Latin meus, from Proto-Italic *meos.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /mew/ [meʊ̯]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mew/

• (Alentejo, Algarve, Azores, Madeira, unstressed) IPA^(key): [me]
• Hyphenation: meu

• Audio (São Paulo):

  (file)

Determiner

meu (feminine minha, masculine plural meus, feminine plural minhas)

2. First-person singular possessive pronoun.
   2. pertaining or belonging to me; my

      o meu computador ― my computer

   4. that serves or interests me; my

      o meu carro ― my car

   6. introduced by me; my

      o herói da minha história ― the hero of my story

   8. merited by me; my

      ainda não recebi o meu dinheiro ― I still haven't received my money

   10. related to me; my

       O meu pai veio me visitar. ― My father came to visit me.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:meu.

Pronoun

meu (feminine minha, masculine plural meus, feminine plural minhas)

1. mine (belonging to me, pertaining to me, serving me, relating to me, etc.; corresponding to any of the above definitions)

Interjection

meu!

2. (Portugal, Brazil, slang, chiefly São Paulo) hey; oi (used vocatively to draw someone’s attention)
4. (Brazil, slang) whoa (used to express surprise)
6. (Portugal, slang) dude

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:meu.

See also

			Possessee
			Singular		Plural
			Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine
Possessor	Singular	First person	meu	minha	meus	minhas
		Second person	teu	tua	teus	tuas
		Third person	seu	sua	seus	suas
	Plural	First person	nosso	nossa	nossos	nossas
		Second person	vosso	vossa	vossos	vossas
		Third person	seu	sua	seus	suas
See also: Appendix:Possessive#Portuguese

Romanian

Alternative forms

• meŭ — old orthography

Etymology

Inherited from Latin meus, from Proto-Italic *meos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mew/

• Audio:

  (file)

Determiner

meu m or n (feminine singular mea, masculine plural mei, feminine and neuter plural mele)

1. (genitive form of eu used as a possessive determiner) my

Declension

indefinite only		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	meu		mea		mei	mele
	definite	—		—		—	—
genitive- dative	indefinite	meu		mele		mei	mele
	definite	—		—		—	—

Pronoun

meu m or n

1. (preceded by "al") mine

See also

• lor
• nostru
• său, lui
• tău
• vostru

Sardinian

Etymology

From Latin meus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeu/

Pronoun

meu (plural meos, feminine mea, feminine plural meas)

1. my, mine

Related terms

• tuu/tou/tuo
• suu/sou/suo
• nostru
• bostru/vostru
• issoro

Sassarese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeu/

Determiner

meu (feminine singular mea, plural mei)

1. Alternative form of méiu
   • 1989, Giovanni Maria Cherchi, “Turrendi a bidda mea [Going back to my town]”, in La poesia di l'althri (overall work in Italian and Sassarese), Sassari: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, page 89:

     E canti volthi, o bidda mea natiba,
     soggu giuntu a zirchà
     da te li cosi mei chi v’aggiu pessu

     And how many times, o native town of mine, have I come to you looking for the things that I have lost here

   • 2020 March 25, Ignazio Sanna, “Di nomme fozzu Asdrubale [My name is Asdrubale]”, in Ignazio Sanna - Prosa e poesia in sassarese‎^[2]:

     Lu méu nascimèntu l’abìa dinunziaddu sóru in municipiu

     She [my mother] declared my birth only at the register office

Pronoun

meu m (feminine singular mea, masculine and feminine plural mei)

1. Alternative form of méiu

References

• Rubattu, Antoninu (2006) Dizionario universale della lingua di Sardegna, 2nd edition, Sassari: Edes

Zou

Meu.

Etymology

Onomatopoeic. Compare Khumi Chin mibawi and Chinese 貓 / 猫 (māo).

Noun

meu

1. cat (Felis catus)

References

• Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 65