mo

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: Appendix:Variations of "mo"

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA(key): /məʊ/
  • (US) enPR: mō, IPA(key): /moʊ/
  • Audio (AU)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊ

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English mo, from Old English mā, from Proto-Germanic *maiz, from a comparative form of Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-. Cognate with Swedish mer, Danish mer; and with Irish mó, Albanian më. See also more, most.

Adverb[edit]

mo (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) to a greater degree
  2. (now dialectal) further, longer

Adjective[edit]

mo (not comparable)

  1. (archaic, dialectal) Greater in amount, quantity, or number (of discrete objects, as opposed to more, which was applied to substances)
    • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew XXII:
      Nether durste eny man from that daye forth axe hym eny moo questions.
    • c. 1380, William Langland, Piers Plowman
      With that ran there a route of ratones at ones,
      And smale mys myd hem, mo then a thousande

Etymology 2[edit]

Abbreviation of month.

Noun[edit]

mo (plural mos)

  1. (abbreviation) month

Etymology 3[edit]

Clipping of moment.

Noun[edit]

mo (uncountable)

  1. (colloquial) moment
    Hang on a mo!

Etymology 4[edit]

Clipping of homo, itself a short form of homosexual.

Noun[edit]

mo (plural mos)

  1. (slang) a homosexual

Etymology 5[edit]

Pronunciation spelling of more. as pronounced in non-rhotic dialects, notably African American Vernacular English. Only coincidentally similar to sense 1 above. Compare fo' (“for; four”), ho (“whore”).

Alternative forms[edit]

Adjective[edit]

mo (not comparable)

  1. (dialectal, African-American Vernacular) more
    Yo, you got mo chips?

Etymology 6[edit]

moustache + -o (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Surely just a shortening of "moustache"? "-o" suffix on a single letter looks implausible.”)

Noun[edit]

mo (plural mos)

  1. (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A moustache

Etymology 7[edit]

Clipping.

Noun[edit]

mo (plural mos)

  1. (prison slang) A molester.
    • 2018, James Kühnel, Carceration State
      The Idaho prison is full of cho-mos (child molesters), mos (molesters), and all types of sexual predators that have engaged in some type of abnormal sexual acts.
Related terms[edit]

Etymology 8[edit]

From mil, by analogy with do and gro.

Numeral[edit]

mo

  1. The cardinal number occurring after el gro el do el (↋↋↋) and before mo one (1001) in a duodecimal system. Written 1000, decimal value 1728.

See also[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Abinomn[edit]

Noun[edit]

mo

  1. (anatomy) stomach

Adangme[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

mo

  1. you
    I suɔ mo.
    I love you.

Akan[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

mo

  1. ye, you (plural)

Albanian[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Albanian *mē, from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁ (a prohibitive particle).

Particle[edit]

mo (masculine adjectival i mo, feminine singular e mo, masculine plural të mo, feminine plural të moa)

  1. don't

Alemannic German[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle High German man, from Old High German man, from Proto-Germanic *mann-. Cognate with German Mann, Dutch man, English man, Icelandic maður, Swedish man, Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌰 (manna).

Noun[edit]

mo m (Carcoforo)

  1. man
  2. husband

References[edit]

  • “mo” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Amanab[edit]

Noun[edit]

mo

  1. speech, language, word

Angguruk Yali[edit]

Noun[edit]

mo

  1. mountain

References[edit]

Antillean Creole[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French mot (“word”).

Noun[edit]

mo

  1. word

Bikol Central[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

mo

  1. second person singular possessive adjective; your

Dongxiang[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Mongolic *mör (“trail, path”), compare Mongolian мөр (mör, “road, path”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

mo

  1. road, path
    nie fade bi zhin mo jiere yawuzhi saozhi wo.
    one time I was walking on the road.

Esperanto[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

mo (accusative singular mo-on, plural mo-oj, accusative plural mo-ojn)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter M.

See also[edit]

Haitian Creole[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French mot (“word”).

Noun[edit]

mo

  1. word

Irish[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • m’ (used before vowel sounds)

Etymology[edit]

From Old Irish mo, mu, from Proto-Celtic *moy, from Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)moy, clitic oblique case of *éǵh₂.

Pronunciation[edit]

Determiner[edit]

mo (triggers lenition)

  1. my
    mo bhád ― my boat
    mo mháthair ― my mother
  2. me (direct object pronoun before verbal noun)
    Tá sé ag mo bhualadh ― He is hitting me

See also[edit]

Irish personal pronouns
Number Person (and gender) Conjunctive
(emphatic) 		Disjunctive
(emphatic) 		Possessive
determiner
Singular First mé
(mise) 		mo L
m' before vowel sounds
Second tú
(tusa)1 		thú
(thusa) 		do L
d' before vowel sounds
Third masculine sé
(seisean) 		é
(eisean) 		a L
Third feminine sí
(sise) 		í
(ise) 		a H
Plural First muid, sinn
(muidne, muide), (sinne) 		ár E
Second sibh
(sibhse)1 		bhur E
Third siad
(siadsan) 		iad
(iadsan) 		a E

L Triggers lenition E Triggers eclipsis H Triggers h-prothesis

1 Also used as the vocative

The reflexive is formed by adding féin to the relevant pronoun: e.g. "myself" = mé féin, "yourselves" = sibh féin.

Further reading[edit]

  • "mo" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
  • Entries containing “mo” in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm, 1959, by Tomás de Bhaldraithe.
  • Entries containing “mo” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

Italian[edit]

Adverb[edit]

mo

  1. Alternative spelling of mo'

Japanese[edit]

Romanization[edit]

mo

  1. Rōmaji transcription of も
  2. Rōmaji transcription of モ

Kalasha[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Sanskrit मा (mā́), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁ (prohibitive particle). Cognate with Hindi मत (mat), Persian مـ‎ (ma-), Albanian mo.

Particle[edit]

mo

  1. do not, don't (prohibitive particle)

Lolopo[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Proto-Loloish *C-ma³ (Bradley), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan. Cognate with Burmese -မ (-ma.).

Suffix[edit]

mo

  1. (Yao'an) female
See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Proto-Loloish *ma¹ (Bradley). Cognate with Sichuan Yi ꂷ (ma), Naxi meel.

Noun[edit]

mo 

  1. (Yao'an) bamboo

Mandarin[edit]

Romanization[edit]

mo

  1. Nonstandard spelling of mō.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of mó.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of mǒ.
  4. Nonstandard spelling of mò.

Usage notes[edit]

  • English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Matlatzinca[edit]

Noun[edit]

mo

  1. foot

References[edit]

  • Roberto Escalante Hernández, Marciano Hernández, Matlatzinca de San Francisco Oxtotilpan, Estado de México (1999)

Mauritian Creole[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From French moi (“me”).

Pronoun[edit]

mo (objective mwa)

  1. I (first-person singular nominative personal pronoun)
See also[edit]
Mauritian Creole personal pronouns
singular plural
1st person mo
mwa (objective) 		nou
2nd person to (informal), ou (formal)
twa (objective) 		zot
3rd person li zot, bann-la

Etymology 2[edit]

From French mot (“word”).

Noun[edit]

mo

  1. word

Alternative spelling: mot.

Norman[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin mollis.

Adjective[edit]

mo m

  1. (Jersey) soft

Derived terms[edit]

Northern Sami[edit]

Etymology[edit]

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (Kautokeino) IPA(key): /ˈmoː/

Adverb[edit]

mō

  1. how

Further reading[edit]

  • Koponen, Eino; Ruppel, Klaas; Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002-2008) Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎[1], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Believed to be from the noun moe.

Adjective[edit]

mo (neuter singular mo or mott, definite singular and plural mo or moe)

  1. close, sultry

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old Norse moðr.

Alternative forms[edit]

Adjective[edit]

mo (neuter singular mo, definite singular and plural mo or moe)

  1. tired, weary

Etymology 3[edit]

From Old Norse mór (“moor”)

Noun[edit]

mo m (definite singular moen, indefinite plural moer, definite plural moene)

  1. moor, heath
  2. (military) drill ground

Etymology 4[edit]

From Old Norse moð.

Noun[edit]

mo n (definite singular moet, indefinite plural mo, definite plural moa or moene)

  1. dust (e.g. sawdust)
  2. chaff (e.g. from hay)

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old Norse mór (“moor”), from Proto-Germanic *mōraz.

Noun[edit]

mo m (definite singular moen, indefinite plural moar, definite plural moane)

  1. moor, heath
  2. (military) drill ground

Etymology 2[edit]

Perhaps from the noun moe m.

Adjective[edit]

mo (neuter singular mo or mott, definite singular and plural mo or moe)

  1. close, sultry

Etymology 3[edit]

From Old Norse móðr, from Proto-Germanic *mōdaz.

Alternative forms[edit]

  • mod (alternative spelling)

Adjective[edit]

mo (neuter singular mo, definite singular and plural mo or moe)

  1. tired, weary

Etymology 4[edit]

From Old Norse moð.

Alternative forms[edit]

  • mò (alternative spelling)

Noun[edit]

mo n (definite singular moet, indefinite plural mo, definite plural moa)

  1. dust (e.g. sawdust)
  2. chaff (e.g. from hay)

Etymology 5[edit]

From German, originally moder.

Adverb[edit]

mo

  1. Used as an intensifier about loneliness
    Synonym: mutters

Etymology 6[edit]

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb[edit]

mo

  1. imperative of moa and moe

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Old Irish[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • mu
  • m’ (used before vowel sounds)

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Celtic *moy, from Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)moy, clitic oblique case of *éǵh₂.

Pronunciation[edit]

Determiner[edit]

mo (triggers lenition)

  1. my
    • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 10d23
      Mad ar lóg pridcha-sa, .i. ar m’étiuth et mo thoschith, ním·bia fochricc dar hési mo precepte.
      If I preach for pay, that is, for my clothing and my sustenance, I shall not have a reward for my teaching.

Further reading[edit]

Old Occitan[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

mo m (feminine ma, masculine plural mos)

  1. my (possessive; belong to 'me')

Réunion Creole French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French mot (“word”).

Noun[edit]

mo

  1. word

Samoan[edit]

Preposition[edit]

mo

  1. for

Scottish Gaelic[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Irish mo, mu.

Pronoun[edit]

mo

  1. my, mine

Usage notes[edit]

  • Lenites the following word.
    mo + baile =
    mo bhaile ― my town
  • Takes the form m' before words beginning with a vowel:
    m' ainm ― my name

Swahili[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Particle[edit]

mo

  1. "inside" locative class suffix, "inside" of a definite place indicator
    watu wamo chumbani
    the people are inside the room

Inflection[edit]

Inflected forms of -mo
Noun class singular positive plural positive singular negative plural negative
1st-Person nimo tumo simo hatumo
2nd-Person umo mumo humo hamumo
M-wa class / 3rd-Person yumo wamo hayumo hawamo
M-mi class umo imo haumo haimo
Ma class limo yamo halimo hayamo
Ki-vi class kimo vimo hakimo havimo
N class imo zimo haimo hazimo
U class umo umo haumo haumo
Pa class pamo pamo hapamo hapamo
Ku class kumo kumo hakumo hakumo
Mu class mumo mumo hamumo hamumo

See also[edit]

  • po: definite place indicator
  • ko: indefinite place indicator

Swedish[edit]

Noun[edit]

mo c

  1. sandy soil
  2. a sandy field, a moor, a heath

Declension[edit]

Declension of mo 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative mo mon moar moarna
Genitive mos mons moars moarnas
Derived terms[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Tagalog[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

mo

  1. second person singular possessive adjective; your

Tuvaluan[edit]

Preposition[edit]

mo

  1. for

Vietnamese[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

mo • (𥷺, 𧄲)

  1. spathe of the areca tree

Welsh[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Reduced form of ddim o (“not of, nothing of”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Particle[edit]

mo (causes soft mutation)

  1. (colloquial) negative particle used when immediately preceding the definite article or a definite noun phrase
    Fwytais i mo'r moron. ― I didn't eat the carrots.
    Wela i mo'r ffilm 'na. ― I will not see that film.
    Chlywoch chi mo Owain. ― You didn't hear Owain.
    Leician nhw mo wraig y dyn. ― They wouldn't like the man's wife.

Usage notes[edit]

Because this form is used only when directly in front of a definite object, it only appears in the (non-periphrastic) preterite, future and conditional tenses.

In front of a pronoun, mo has personal forms the same as the preposition o:

Personal forms
Singular Plural
First person mohono i mohonom ni
Second person mohonot ti mohonoch chi
Third person mohono fe/fo m
mohoni hi f 		mohonyn nhw

See also[edit]

  • dim, ddim (negative particle used in all other situations)

Mutation[edit]

Does not mutate.

Westrobothnian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse móðr (“emotion, anger,”) from Proto-Germanic *mōdaz, whence also English mood. Influenced by French mode, from Latin modus. In the sense ’anger’ replaced by sinn. For the sense ’method’ compare me n.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

mo n (definite singular mode or moe, plural mo)

  1. (singular only) Spirit, love of life, optimism.
  2. Way of behaving, mood.
    han hadd de mode
    he had that way
  3. Fashion.
  4. Method.

Related terms[edit]

Yao[edit]

Yao cardinal numbers
 <  0 1 2  > 
    Cardinal : mo

Etymology[edit]

Cognates include Swahili moja.

Numeral[edit]

mo

  1. one

Usage notes[edit]

This number follows a noun and takes the noun class characteristic prefix, e.g. libweta limo (one box). See the Yao language article on Wikipedia for details on noun class prefixes.

Yoruba[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • mi (used in a negative sentence, or generally in some dialects)

Pronoun[edit]

mo

  1. I (first-person singular personal pronoun)

See also[edit]

Affirmative subject pronouns
singular plural or honorific
1st person mo a
2nd person o ẹ
3rd person ó wọ́n
Negative subject pronouns
singular plural or honorific
1st person mi / n a
2nd person o ẹ
3rd person [pronoun dropped] wọn
Object pronouns
singular plural or honorific
1st person mi wa
2nd person ọ / ẹ yín
3rd person [preceding vowel repeated for monosyllabic verbs] / ẹ̀ wọn
Note: except for yín, object pronouns have a high tone following a low or mid tone monosyllabic verb, and a mid tone following a high tone. For complex verbs, the tone does not change.
Emphatic pronouns
singular plural or honorific
1st person èmi àwa
2nd person ìwọ ẹ̀yin
3rd person òun àwọn
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