محو

Arabic

Root
م ح و (m ḥ w)
7 terms

Etymology

Verbal noun of مَحَا (maḥā).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maħw/

Noun

مَحْو • (maḥw) m

1. verbal noun of مَحَا (maḥā) (form I)
2. (uncountable) wiping, erasure
3. (uncountable) elimination

Declension

Declension of noun مَحْو (maḥw)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	مَحْو maḥw	الْمَحْو al-maḥw	مَحْو maḥw
Nominative	مَحْوٌ maḥwun	الْمَحْوُ al-maḥwu	مَحْوُ maḥwu
Accusative	مَحْوًا maḥwan	الْمَحْوَ al-maḥwa	مَحْوَ maḥwa
Genitive	مَحْوٍ maḥwin	الْمَحْوِ al-maḥwi	مَحْوِ maḥwi

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: məhv
• Kurdish:

  → Central Kurdish: مەفح (mefḧ)

• → Persian: محو (mahv)
• → Ottoman Turkish: محو (mahv)
  • Turkish: mahv, mahıv
• → Uzbek: mahv

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic مَحْو (maḥw).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [mahw]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [mäɦw]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [mäɦw]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [mɑːw]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [mäw]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [mæɦv]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [mäɦw]

Readings
Classical reading?	mahw
Dari reading?	mahw
Iranian reading?	mahv
Tajik reading?	mahv

Noun

محو • (mahv)

1. erasure, effacement, wiping away
   • c. 1520, Selim I of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Benedek Péri, The Persian Dīvān of Yavuz Sulṭān Selīm, Budapest, Hungary: Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, →ISBN, page 115:

     تا نشد مردم چشمم برخت محو وفا
     دردمندانه بخلوتگه عزلت بنشست

     tā našud mardum-i čašmam ba-ruxat mahw-i wafā
     dardmandāna ba-xalwatgah-i uzlat binišast

     Until my eyes' pupils were erased of fidelity for your face,
     They sat painfully in a solitary place of seclusion.

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

2. abolition, elimination
3. absorption, fascination (to the point of eliminating one's sense of self)
   • 1177, Farīd ud-Dīn ʿAṭṭār, “The tale of the nightingale”, in منطق‌الطیر‎^[1]:

     من چنان در عشق گل مستغرقم
     کز وجود خویش محو مطلقم

     man čunān dar išq-i gul mustağraq-am
     k-az wujūd-i xwēš mahw-i mutlaq-am

     I am so drowned in love for the rose
     That I am absolutely erased from my own existence.

     (Classical romanization)

4. (Sufism) absorption of the human self into God

Derived terms

• محو شدن (mahv šodan)
• محو کردن (mahv kardan)

 

Further reading

• Hayyim, Sulayman (1934) “محو”, in New Persian–English dictionary, Teheran: Librairie-imprimerie Béroukhim