mateix

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan mateix~meteix, from Early Medieval Latin metipse, from Latin -met + ipse. Compare Occitan meteis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [məˈteʃ]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [maˈtejʃ]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ejʃ

Adjective

mateix (feminine mateixa, masculine plural mateixos, feminine plural mateixes)

1. serves as an intensifier in the same manner that in English would be performed by the appropriate reflexive pronoun (myself, himself, themselves, etc.)

   Vostè mateix és responsable d'aquest desastre.

   You yourself are responsible for this disaster.

   El Sant Grial només pot ser tocat pels sants mateixos.

   The Holy Grail may only be touched by the saints themselves.

   • mid-to-late 18^th–early 19^th century (exact period unknown), Luigi Soffi, Ay, qui podrà [Ah, who will be able], stanza 2, lines 1–2; republished in “La Gallura, Sassari e Alghero” (chapter 3), in Salvatore Tola, La letteratura in lingua sarda: testi, autori, vicende, Cagliari: CUEC, October 2006, →ISBN, page 131:

     Vos mateixa patint per ma de amor / no haver dolor igual de cor provat (Alghero)

     You yourself, suffering at the hands of love, had not yet felt such pain in your heart

   • 2019 February 13, Jan Fleischer, Time Out Barcelona‎^[1], page 7, column Fight!:

     La meva bitmoji s'assembla més a mi que jo mateixa.

     My bitmoji looks more like me than I do.

Usage notes

• As an adjective, mateix is placed after the noun it modifies.

Determiner

mateix m (feminine mateixa, masculine plural mateixos, feminine plural mateixes)

1. same (identical)

   Vam néixer el mateix dia.

   We were born on the same day.

2. same (similar)
3. (between a possessive pronoun and a noun) own

   El seu mateix pare no va creure el seu relat.

   Her own father did not believe her tale.

Usage notes

• As a determiner, mateix is placed before the noun it modifies.

Derived terms

• al mateix temps
• ara mateix
• tanmateix

References

• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “mateix”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Further reading

• “mateix”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “mateix”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “mateix” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.