མ

See also: མི, མེ, and མོ

Translingual

Letter

མ

1. Tibetan letter ma

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Dzongkha

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑ˩/

Adverb

མ (ma)

1. Alternative form of མི (mi, “not, non-”)

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Tibetan

Etymology 1

Noun

1. mother, mom

Etymology 2

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ma (“no, not”).

Pronunciation

Template:bo-pron (Note: mav - before low-tone syllables; maf - before high-tone syllables; mhaf - before high-tone aspirated syllables)

Adverb

1. negates the following verb in the past tense.

   བལྟས་ཀྱང་མ་མཐོང ― bltas kyang ma mthong ― He looked but did not see it

2. negates the following verb in the imperative tense; prohibitive particle.
3. placed between nouns to indicate “neither ... nor ...”.

   ར་མ་ལུག ― ra ma lug ― neither a goat nor a sheep

Etymology 3

Suffix

མ • (ma)

1. ownership suffix used to indicate the feminine form of a noun.

   ཟློས་གར་མ ― zlos gar ma ― female singer/dancer

2. particle affixed to nouns to add a level of specificity or gravity to the noun.