Moses

See also: moses, Móses, and Moyses

English

Etymology

From Latin Mōsēs, from Ancient Greek Μωσῆς (Mōsês), from earlier Μωυσῆς (Mōusês), from Biblical Hebrew מֹשֶׁה (mōšê). Further etymology is unclear, but it is sometimes conjectured to derive from Egyptian (msj, “to give birth to”), a common element in Egyptian names of the form ‘[name of deity] is the one who bore him’; or, alternatively, contains Egyptian (mw, “water”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊzɪz/, /-zɪs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊzəs/, /-zəz/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊzɪz, -əʊzɪs
• Hyphenation: Mos‧es

Proper noun

Moses

2. (biblical) The pharaonic patriarch who led the enslaved Hebrews out of Egypt, the brother of Aaron and Miriam described in the Book of Exodus and the Quran.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 19:20, column 1:

     And the Lord came downe vpon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moſes vp to the top of the mount, and Moſes went vp.

   • 1952 Singin' in the Rain: Moses supposes (a song):

     Moses supposes his toeses are roses, / But Moses supposes erroneously, / Moses he knowses his toeses aren't roses, / As Moses supposes his toeses to be!

3. A male given name from Hebrew.
   • 2004 October 24, Bill Gladstone, “The oldest family in the world”, in Jewish Telegraphic Agency‎^[1]:

     The family tree boasts an astonishing array of celebrated historical figures from the prophet Isaiah to Sir Isaiah Berlin, from Felix Mendelssohn to Karl Marx and Moses Montefiore. The list also includes Yehudi Menuhin, Helena Rubinstein, the Rothschilds and even Rosenstein himself.

4. A surname transferred from the given name.
5. A dialect of the Columbia-Wenatchi language
6. (US, African American culture) pseudonym for Harriet Tubman

Synonyms

(Jewish male given name):

• Moishe
• Moshe

Derived terms

• for the love of Moses
• Moses basket
• Moses Lake
• Moses on a raft
• Moses sole
• suffering Moses
• sweet Moses
• sweet mother of Moses

Related terms

• Mosaic
• Mosaism

Translations

the biblical patriarch

• Albanian: Moisiu m, Musa m (Muslim)
• Amharic: ሙሴ (Musse)
• Ao: Mosa (Chungli)
• Arabic: مُوسَىٰ (ar) m (mūsā)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܡܘܫܐ

  Samaritan Aramaic: ࠌࠦࠔࠨࠄ (mūši)

• Armenian: Մովսես (Movses)

  Old Armenian: Մովսէս (Movsēs)

• Azerbaijani: Musa (az)
• Bashkir: Муса (Musa)
• Basque: Mois
• Belarusian: Майсе́й m (Majsjéj)
• Bengali: মূসা (bn) (mūsa)
• Bulgarian: Моисе́й m (Moiséj)
• Catalan: Moisès
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 摩西 (mo¹ sai¹), 梅瑟 (mui⁴ sat¹) (Catholic)

  Hakka: 摩西 (Mô-sî)

  Hokkien: 摩西 (zh-min-nan) (Mô͘-se)

  Mandarin: 摩西 (zh) (Móxī) (Protestant), 梅瑟 (zh) (Méisè) (Catholic), 摩伊息斯 (Móyīxīsī) (Orthodox), 穆撒 (Mùsǎ) (Islam)

• Coptic: ⲙⲱⲥⲏ (mōsē)
• Czech: Mojžíš (cs) m
• Danish: Moses
• Dutch: Mozes (nl)
• Esperanto: Moseo
• Estonian: Mooses
• Farefare: Mose
• Faroese: Móses m
• Finnish: Mooses (fi)
• French: Moïse (fr) m

  Middle French: Moyse m

  Old French: Moyses

• Georgian: მოსე (mose)
• German: Moses (de) m (Catholic), Mose (de) m (Protestant)
• Gothic: 𐌼𐍉𐍃𐌴𐍃 (mōsēs)
• Greek: Μωυσής (el) m (Moysís)

  Ancient Greek: Μωϋσῆς m (Mōüsês), Μωσῆς (Mōsês)

• Hausa: Musa
• Hawaiian: Mose
• Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה (he) m (moshé), מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ m (moshé rabénu)
• Hindi: मूसा (hi) m (mūsā)
• Hungarian: Mózes (hu)
• Indonesian: Musa
• Irish: Maois m

  Old Irish: Moysi m

• Italian: Mosè
• Japanese: モーセ (Mōse)
• Jarai: Môis
• Kashubian: Mózes
• Kazakh: Мұса (Mūsa)
• Khmer: ម៉ូសេ (mousee)
• Konkani: मूजे (mūje)
• Korean: 모세 (Mose)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: مووسا (mûsa)

  Northern Kurdish: Mûsa (ku)

• Ladino: Moshe
• Lak: Муса идавс (Musa idaws)
• Latin: Mōsēs m, Mō̆ȳsēs, Mō̆īsēs
• Latvian: Mozus
• Lithuanian: Mozė m
• Macedonian: Мојсеј (Mojsej)
• Malay: Musa
• Manchu: ᠮᠣᡳᠰᡝᡳ (moisei)
• Māori: Mohi
• Maranao: Mosa
• Mongolian: Мосе (Mose)
• Navajo: Mózes
• Norwegian: Moses (no)
• Persian: موسی (fa) (musâ)
• Plautdietsch: Moses
• Polish: Mojżesz (pl) m
• Portuguese: Moisés (pt) m
• Romanian: Moise m
• Russian: Моисе́й (ru) m (Moiséj)
• Scottish Gaelic: Maois m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Мојсије m, Муса m (Muslim)

  Latin: Mojsije m, Musa (sh) m (Muslim)

• Sicilian: Moisès m, Musè m
• Slovak: Mojžíš m
• Slovene: Mójzes (sl) m
• Sogdian: [script needed] (mwšʾ /⁠mušā⁠/)
• Spanish: Moisés (es)
• Swahili: Musa, Mose
• Swedish: Mose (sv)
• Tagalog: Moises
• Tamil: மோசே (mōcē)
• Tatar: Муса (Musa)
• Tibetan: མོ་ཤི (mo shi)
• Turkish: Musa (tr), Mûsâ (tr), Musalar (tr) pl, Mûsâlar (tr) pl

  Ottoman Turkish: موسی (musa)

• Ukrainian: Мойсе́й (uk) m (Mojséj)
• Urdu: موسیٰ m (mūsā)
• Vietnamese: Môi-se, Mô-sê
• Welsh: Moses m
• Yiddish: משה m (moyshe)

male given name

• Arabic: مُوسَى (ar) m (mūsā)
• Armenian: Մովսես (Movses)

  Old Armenian: Մովսէս (Movsēs)

• Bengali: মূসা (bn) (mūsa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 摩西 (zh) (Móxī)

• Galician: Moisés (gl) m
• Hausa: Musa
• Hawaiian: Moke
• Hindi: मोसेस m (moses)
• Hungarian: Mózes (hu)
• Latvian: Mozus m
• Macedonian: Мојсеј m (Mojsej)
• Malay: Musa
• Māori: Mohi
• Navajo: Mózes
• Polish: Mojżesz (pl) m
• Portuguese: Moisés (pt) m
• Sicilian: Musè m
• Spanish: Moisés (es) m
• Swahili: Musa
• Swedish: Moses (sv)
• Tamil: மோசே (mōcē)
• Turkish: Musa (tr), Mûsâ (tr), Musalar (tr) pl, Mûsâlar (tr) pl, Mısa, Mısalar pl
• Ukrainian: Мойсей (uk) m (Mojsej)

Interjection

Moses

1. An exclamation of shock.

See also

• Moses Gate

Anagrams

• Mosse, Somes, -somes

Danish

Proper noun

Moses

1. Moses (biblical figure)

German

Etymology

Biblical, cognate with English Moses.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Proper noun

Moses m (proper noun, strong, genitive Moses or Mosis)

1. (biblical) Moses

   Synonym: Moyses

Synonyms

• Mose (Protestant)

Latin

Alternative forms

• Mō̆ȳsēs, Mō̆īsēs, Moesēs

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Μωσῆς (Mōsês), from earlier Μωυσῆς (Mōusês), from Biblical Hebrew מֹשֶׁה (mōšê). Doublet of Mō̆ȳsēs.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmoː.seːs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmɔː.s̬es]

Proper noun

Mōsēs m sg (genitive Mōsī or Mōsēī or Mōsis or Mōsēn or Mōseōs); irregular

1. (biblical) a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Moses

Declension

Irregular noun, singular only.

	singular
nominative	Mōsēs
genitive	Mōsī Mōsēī Mōsis Mōsēn Mōseōs
dative	Mōsī
accusative	Mōsēn Mōsem
ablative	Mōse Mōsēn Mōsī
vocative	Mōsēs Mōsē

Derived terms

• mōsēius
• mōsēus
• mōsiticus

Descendants

• → Danish: Moses
• → Dutch: Mozes
• → English: Moses
• → Estonian: Mooses
• → Finnish: Mooses
• → German: Moses, Mose
• → Hungarian: Mózes
• → Italian: Mosè
• → Japanese: モーセ (Mōse)
• → Lithuanian: Mozė
• → Norwegian Bokmål: Moses
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: Moses
• → Scottish Gaelic: Maois
• → Swedish: Moses, Mose

References

• “Mōses”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Moses”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Norwegian Bokmål

Proper noun

Moses

1. Moses (biblical figure)

Related terms

• Mose-
• mosaisk

Norwegian Nynorsk

Proper noun

Moses

1. Moses (biblical figure)

Related terms

• Mose-
• mosaisk

Swedish

Proper noun

Moses c (genitive Moses, sometimes Mose)

1. (dated) alternative form of Mose
   • 1917, 1773 års bibelkommission [The Swedish Bible Commission of 1773], “Apostlagärningarna [Acts] 7:22”, in 1917 års kyrkobibel‎^[2], © Svenska Bibelsällskapet, accessed at Bible.com, archived from the original on 21 October 2025:

     Moses blev undervisad i all egyptiernas visdom och var mäktig i ord och gärningar.

     Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.

   • 1933, Selma Lagerlöf, Höst [Autumn]‎^[3], Albert Bonniers förlag, accessed at Litteraturbanken.se, archived from the original on 21 October 2025:

     [Enligt] Mose lag skulle hon stenas.

     According to the law of Moses, she was to be stoned.

2. (rare) a male given name
3. genitive of Mose