मैं

See also: म and में

Dogri

Etymology

From Khasa Prakrit [Term?] (compare Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀫𑀏 (mae)), from Sanskrit मया (mayā), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *máyaH (the instrumental singular of *aȷ́ʰám (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁móy.

Pronoun

मैं (ma͠i)

1. I

Hindi

Etymology

Inherited from Old Hindi मैं (maiṃ), from Sauraseni Apabhramsa मइं (maĩ), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀫𑀏 (mae), from Sanskrit मया (mayā), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *máyaH (the instrumental singular of *aȷ́ʰám (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁móy.

Cognate to Punjabi ਮੈਂ (maĩ), Nepali म (ma), Assamese মই (moi), Oriya ମୁଁ (mum̐) , Sylheti ꠝꠥꠁ (mui), Bengali মুই (mui), Marathi मी (mī), all deriving from oblique forms of the first-person personal pronoun.

Pronunciation

• (Delhi Hindi) IPA^(key): /mɛ̃ː/
• (dialectal) IPA^(key): /məɪ/, [məɪ̯]

• Audio

  (file)

Pronoun

मैं • (ma͠i) m or f (Urdu spelling مَیں‎)

1. I (the first person personal singular pronoun)

   मैं एक आदमी हूँ।

   ma͠i ek ādmī hū̃.

   I am a man.

Inflection

Pronoun declension of मैं

direct	मैं ma͠i
indirect	मुझ mujh
ergative	मैंने ma͠ine
genitive	मेरा merā
dative	मुझे, मुझको mujhe, mujhko
instrumental/ablative	मुझसे mujhse
inessive	मुझमें mujhmẽ
adessive	मुझपे, मुझपर mujhpe, mujhpar
terminative	मुझतक mujhtak
semblative	मुझसा mujhsā

Synonyms

• हम (ham) (dialectal, colloquial)

Further reading

• McGregor, Ronald Stuart (1993), “मैं”, in The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, London: Oxford University Press
• Platts, John T. (1884), “मैं”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
• Caturvedi, Mahendra; Bhola Nath Tiwari (1970), “मैं”, in A practical Hindi-English dictionary, Delhi: National Publishing House

Kumaoni

Etymology

From Khasa Prakrit [Term?] (compare Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀫𑀏 (mae)), from Sanskrit मया (mayā), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *máyaH (the instrumental singular of *aȷ́ʰám (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁móy.

Pronoun

मैं (ma͠i)

1. I

Old Hindi

Alternative forms

• मै (mai)

Etymology

Inherited from Sauraseni Apabhramsa मइं (maĩ), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀫𑀏 (mae), from Sanskrit मया (mayā), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *máyaH (the instrumental singular of *aȷ́ʰám (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁móy.

Pronoun

मैं (maiṃ)

1. I
   • c. 1500, Kabir, Assorted Poetry, pad 76, line 3:

     जग मैं देषूँ जग न देषि मोहि

     jaga maiṃ deṣūm̐ jaga na deṣi mohi

     I see the world, [but] the world does not see me.

Descendants

• Hindustani:

  Hindi: मैं (ma͠i)

  Urdu: میں‎ (ma͠i)