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most

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Most, móst, mōst, mošt, -most, and мост

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English most, moste, from Old English mǣst, māst, from Proto-Germanic *maistaz, *maist. Cognate with Scots mast, maist (“most”), Saterland Frisian maast (“most”), West Frisian meast (“most”), Dutch meest (“most”), German meist (“most”), Danish and Swedish mest (“most”), Icelandic mestur (“most”).

Alternative forms

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Determiner

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most

  1. superlative degree of much.
    The teams competed to see who could collect (the) most money.
  2. superlative degree of many: the comparatively largest number of (construed with the definite article)
    The team with the most points wins.
  3. superlative degree of many: the majority of; more than half of (construed without the definite article)
    Most bakers and dairy farmers have to get up early.
    Winning was not important for most participants.
Synonyms
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  • (superlative of much): more than half of (in meaning, not grammar), almost all
  • (superlative of many): the majority of (in meaning, not grammar)
Translations
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Adverb

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most (not comparable)

  1. Forms the superlative of many adjectives.
    Antonym: least
    This is the most important example.
    Correctness is most important.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 77:
      With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.
    • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
      “ […] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes […] . And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […] ”
  2. To a great extent or degree; highly; very.
    This is a most unusual specimen.
  3. superlative degree of much
    • 2013 August 3, “Boundary Problems”, in The Economist‎[2], volume 408, number 8847:
      Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.
Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adjective

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most (not comparable)

  1. (slang, dated) The greatest; the best.
    • 1978 September 14, Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey, Bronte Woodard, directed by Randal Kleiser, Grease‎[3] (film), spoken by Patty Simcox (Susan Buckner):
      PATTY:They announced this year's nominees for student council. And guess who's up for vice-president? Me! Isn't that the most to say the least?

Pronoun

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most

  1. The greater part of a group, especially a group of people.
    Most want the best for their children.
    The peach was juicier and more flavourful than most.
Synonyms
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Noun

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most (usually uncountable, plural mosts)

  1. (uncountable) The greatest amount.
    The most I can offer for the house is $150,000.
  2. (countable, uncountable) The greater part.
    Most of the penguins were friendly and curious.
    Most of the rice was spoiled.
    • 1892, Walter Besant, “The Select Circle”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 46:
      At half-past nine on this Saturday evening the parlor of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for the select circle—a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 249:
      The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. […] The second note, the high alarum, not so familiar and always important since it indicates the paramount sin in Man's private calendar, took most of them by surprise although they had been well prepared.
    • 2013 August 16, John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 8:
      Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.
  3. (countable) A record-setting amount.
    • 2001, George Barna, Real Teens: A Contemporary Snapshot of Youth Culture, →ISBN, page 15:
      Along with their massive size will come other “mosts”: they will likely be the longest living, the best educated, the wealthiest and the most wired/ wireless.
    • 2002, John Gregory Selby, Virginians at War: The Civil War Experiences of Seven Young Confederates, →ISBN, page xvii:
      Virginia had a number of "mosts” that made it appealing, if not representative of all Confederate states: the most citizens among the Southern states; the most slaves; the most men under arms; the most famous Southern generals; the most fighting within its borders; the most divided by the war (what other Southern state lost a quarter of its territory and saw a new state created out of that former territory?); and the most damaged by the war.
    • 2007, Joe Moscheo, The Gospel Side of Elvis, →ISBN:
      The record of Elvis' achievement is truly remarkable; his list of “firsts” and “mosts” is probably without parallel in music and entertainment history.
Usage notes
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  • In the sense of record, used when the positive denotation of best does not apply.
Translations
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Etymology 2

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Reduction of almost.

Adverb

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most (not comparable)

  1. (informal, chiefly US) Almost.
    • 1998, Bill Zehme, The Way You Wear Your Hat: And the Lost Art of Livin' (page 181)
      A well-daiquiried redhead eyed him from across the room at Jilly's one night in 1963 — although it could have been most any night ever […]
    • 2000, Jewish Baltimore: A Family Album, →ISBN, page 159:
      "We walked there most every day after school."
    • 2011, Charlotte Maclay, Wanted: A Dad to Brag About, →ISBN:
      “Can't be all that bad if Luke likes it. Most everywhere has air-conditioning, he says.”
Usage notes
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This use of the word must precede a noun phrase and is restricted to positive polarity. One would not say  most nobody understands this or  I most fell down climbing up the stairs.

Translations
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See also

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References

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  • “most”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin mustum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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most m (plural mosts or mostos)

  1. must (fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented)

Further reading

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Czech

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Czech Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia cs

Etymology

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Inherited from Old Czech most, from Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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most m inan (diminutive můstek or mostek or mostík)

  1. bridge

Declension

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Declension of most (hard masculine inanimate)
singular plural
nominative most mosty
genitive mostu mostů
dative mostu mostům
accusative most mosty
vocative moste mosty
locative mostě mostech
instrumental mostem mosty

Derived terms

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See also

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Further reading

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  • “most”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • “most”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
  • “most”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)

Dutch

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Etymology

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From Latin mustum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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most m (uncountable, diminutive mostje n)

  1. must (unfermented or partially fermented mashed grapes or rarely other fruits, an early stage in the production of wine)

Friulian

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Etymology

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From Latin mustum.

Noun

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most m (plural mosts)

  1. must (unfermented grape juice or wine)

Hungarian

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Etymology

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From the earlier ma (“now”), which in modern Hungarian means “today” + -st. For the suffix, compare valamelyest.[1]

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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most

  1. now

Declension

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It can be suffixed from its (otherwise folksy) variant mostan: mostantól (“from now on”), mostanra (“by now”), mostanig (“until now”), or the latter more commonly formed with -a-, mostanáig (“until now”):

Inflection of most
singular plural
nominative most —
accusative — —
dative — —
instrumental — —
causal-final — —
translative — —
terminative mostanáig
(mostanig) 		—
essive-formal — —
essive-modal — —
inessive — —
superessive — —
adessive — —
illative — —
sublative mostanra —
allative — —
elative — —
delative — —
ablative mostantól —
non-attributive
possessive - singular 		— —
non-attributive
possessive - plural 		— —

Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ most in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN.  (See also its 2nd edition.)

Further reading

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  • most in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Lower Sorbian

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Noun

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most m inan (diminutive mosćik)

  1. Superseded spelling of móst.

Declension

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Declension of most
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative most mosta mosty
Genitive mosta mostowu mostow
Dative mostoju mostoma mostam
Accusative most mosta mosty
Instrumental mostom mostoma mostami
Locative mosće mostoma mostach

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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Noun

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most

  1. Alternative form of must

Etymology 2

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Verb

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most

  1. second-person singular present indicative of moten (“to have to”)

Norwegian Bokmål

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Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology

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From Middle Low German most, must, from Latin mustum.

Noun

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most m (definite singular mosten, indefinite plural moster, definite plural mostene)

  1. must, (unfermented) fruit juice, particularly grape juice

References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From Middle Low German most, must, from Latin mustum.

Noun

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most m (definite singular mosten, indefinite plural mostar, definite plural mostane)

  1. must, (unfermented) fruit juice, particularly grape juice

References

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Old Czech

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Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Slavic *mostъ.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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most m inan

  1. bridge

Declension

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Declension of most (hard o-stem)
singular dual plural
nominative most mosty mosti, mostové
genitive mosta, mostu mostú mostóv
dative mostu mostoma mostóm
accusative most mosty mosty
vocative moste mosty mosti, mostové
locative mostě, mostu mostú mostiech
instrumental mostem mostoma mosty
This table shows the most common forms around the 13th century.
See also Appendix:Old Czech nouns and Appendix:Old Czech pronunciation.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Czech: most

Further reading

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Old English

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Verb

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mōst

  1. second-person singular present indicative of mōtan

Old High German

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Etymology

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From Proto-West Germanic *must.

Noun

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most m

  1. must

Descendants

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Polish

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Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl
most

Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Slavic *mȍstъ (“bridge”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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most m inan (diminutive mościk, augmentative mościsko)

  1. bridge (building over a river or valley)

Declension

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Declension of most
singular plural
nominative most mosty
genitive mostu mostów
dative mostowi mostom
accusative most mosty
instrumental mostem mostami
locative moście mostach
vocative moście mosty

Derived terms

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adjective
adverb
nouns
verb
phrase

Further reading

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  • most in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • most in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Serbo-Croatian

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Serbo-Croatian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sh

Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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mȏst m (Cyrillic spelling мо̑ст)

  1. bridge (construction or natural feature that spans a divide)

Declension

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Declension of most
singular plural
nominative mȏst mòstovi
genitive mȍsta mostova
dative mostu mostovima
accusative most mostove
vocative moste mostovi
locative mostu mostovima
instrumental mostom mostovima

Derived terms

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Slovak

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Slovak Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sk

Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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most m inan (related adjective mostný or mostový, diminutive mostík or môstik)

  1. bridge

Declension

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Declension of most (pattern dub)
singularplural
nominativemostmosty
genitivemostamostov
dativemostumostom
accusativemostmosty
locativemostemostoch
instrumentalmostommostami,
mostmi

Further reading

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  • “most”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2024

Slovene

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Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sl

Etymology

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From Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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mọ̑st m inan

  1. bridge (construction or natural feature that spans a divide)

Inflection

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Declension of most
nom. sing. most
gen. sing. mostu
singular dual plural
nominative most mostova mostovi
accusative most mostova mostove
genitive mostu mostov mostov
dative mostu mostovoma mostovom
locative mostu mostovih mostovih
instrumental mostom mostovoma mostovi
The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.
Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing. móst
gen. sing. mósta
singular dual plural
nominative
(imenovȃlnik) 		móst mósta mósti
genitive
(rodȋlnik) 		mósta móstov móstov
dative
(dajȃlnik) 		móstu móstoma móstom
accusative
(tožȋlnik) 		móst mósta móste
locative
(mẹ̑stnik) 		móstu móstih móstih
instrumental
(orọ̑dnik) 		móstom móstoma mósti

Further reading

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  • “most”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
  • “most”, in Termania, Amebis
  • See also the general references

Volapük

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Noun

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most (nominative plural mosts)

  1. monster

Declension

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declension of most
singular plural
nominative most mosts
genitive mosta mostas
dative moste mostes
accusative mosti mostis
vocative 1 o most! o mosts!
predicative 2 mostu mostus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in later, non-classical Volapük only
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