အစ်ကို

Burmese

Etymology

The first syllable, အစ် (ac), is from Proto-Lolo-Burmese *ʔwyik (“elder sibling”), from Proto-Tibeto-Burman *ʔik (“older brother”), and cognate with the second syllable of Akha [script needed] (a-yui, “elder sibling”). The second syllable, ကို (kui), is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(g/k)əw-n (“elder brother; senior male relative”); see Old Chinese 舅 (OC *ɡuʔ, “maternal uncle; brother-in-law”) for more cognates (STEDT).

Pronunciation

• Phonetic respelling: အ'ကို
• IPA^(key): /ʔəkò/
• Romanization: MLCTS: ackui • ALA-LC: ʼacʻkui • BGN/PCGN: ăko • Okell: ăkou

Noun

အစ်ကို • (ackui) (classifier ယောက် or ဦး)

1. elder brother
2. elder brother of a female

Usage notes

The term has largely displaced နောင် (naung), which in pre-colonial times referenced the elder brother of a male.

Derived terms

• ညီအစ်ကို (nyiackui)
• မယားညီအစ်ကို (ma.ya:nyiackui)

 

References

• “အစ်ကို” in Myanmar–English Dictionary (Myanmar Language Commission 1993). Searchable online at SEAlang.net.