mo

See also: Appendix:Variations of "mo"

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /məʊ/
• (US) enPR: mō, IPA^(key): /moʊ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊ

Etymology 1

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

Adverb

mo (not comparable)

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

Adjective

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

Abbreviation of month.

Noun

mo (plural mos)

1. (abbreviation) month

Etymology 3

Clipping of moment.

Noun

mo (uncountable)

1. (colloquial) moment

   Hang on a mo!

Etymology 4

Clipping of homo, itself a short form of homosexual.

Noun

mo (plural mos)

1. (slang) a homosexual

Etymology 5

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

Alternative forms

• mo'

Adjective

mo (not comparable)

1. (slang) more

   Yo, you got mo chips?

   • 1997, Notorious B.I.G., Mo Money Mo Problems

Etymology 6

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

mo (plural mos)

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

Etymology 7

Clipping.

Noun

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

• chomo

Anagrams

• O.M., OM, om

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Abinomn

Noun

mo

1. (anatomy) stomach

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Adangme

Pronoun

mo

1. you

   I suɔ mo.

   I love you.

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Albanian

Alternative forms

• mos

Etymology

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

Particle

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

1. don't

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Alemannic German

Alternative forms

• ma, mà, Maa, Mann, Mànn

Etymology

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

mo m (Carcoforo)

1. man
2. husband

References

• “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

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Amanab

Noun

mo

1. speech, language, word

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Angguruk Yali

Noun

mo

1. mountain

References

• Christiaan Fahner, The morphology of Yali and Dani (1979), page 157

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Antillean Creole

Etymology

From French mot (“word”).

Noun

mo

1. word

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Dongxiang

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo/, [mʷo]

Noun

mo

1. road, path

   nie fade bi zhin mo jiere yawuzhi saozhi wo.

   one time I was walking on the road.

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Esperanto

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /mo/
• Hyphenation: mo

Noun

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

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

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) litero; a, bo, co, ĉo, do, e, fo, go, ĝo, ho, ĥo, i, jo, ĵo, ko, lo, mo, no, o, po, ro, so, ŝo, to, u, ŭo, vo, zo

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Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French mot (“word”).

Noun

mo

1. word

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Irish

Alternative forms

• m’ (used before vowel sounds)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mˠə/

Determiner

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

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

• "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.

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Italian

Adverb

mo

1. Alternative spelling of mo'

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Japanese

Romanization

mo

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

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Kalasha

Etymology

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

Particle

mo

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

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Mandarin

Romanization

mo

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

Usage notes

• 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.

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Mauritian Creole

Etymology 1

From French moi (“me”).

Pronoun

mo (objective mwa)

1. I (first-person singular nominative personal pronoun)

See also

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

From French mot (“word”).

Noun

mo

1. word

Alternative spelling: mot.

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Norman

Etymology

From Latin mollis.

Adjective

mo m

1. (Jersey) soft

Derived terms

• molle hèrbe (“creeping soft grass; Yorkshire fog”)
• mollement (“softly”)

 

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Northern Sami

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈmoː/

Adverb

mō

1. how

Further reading

• 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

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Believed to be from the noun moe.

Adjective

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

1. close, sultry

Etymology 2

From Old Norse moðr.

Alternative forms

• mod

Adjective

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

1. tired, weary

Etymology 3

From Old Norse mór (“moor”)

Noun

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

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

Etymology 4

From Old Norse moð.

Noun

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

• “mo” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Believed to be from the noun moe.

Adjective

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

1. close, sultry

Etymology 2

From Old Norse moðr.

Alternative forms

• mod

Adjective

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

1. tired, weary

Etymology 3

From Old Norse mór (“moor”).

Noun

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

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

Etymology 4

From Old Norse moð.

Alternative forms

• mò

Noun

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

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

References

• “mo” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Old Irish

Alternative forms

• mu
• m’ (used before vowel sounds)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo/

Determiner

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

• C. Marstrander, E. G. Quin et al., editors (1913–76), “1 mo”, in Dictionary of the Irish Language: Based Mainly on Old and Middle Irish Materials, Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, →ISBN

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Old Occitan

Pronoun

mo m (feminine ma, masculine plural mos)

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

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Réunion Creole French

Etymology

From French mot (“word”).

Noun

mo

1. word

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Samoan

Preposition

mo

1. for

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Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish mo, mu.

Pronoun

mo

1. my, mine

Usage notes

• Lenites the following word.

  mo + baile =

  mo bhaile ― my town

• Takes the form m' before words beginning with a vowel:
  m' ainm ― my name
  .

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Swahili

Particle

mo

1. "inside" locative class suffix, "inside" of a definite place indicator

   watu wamo chumbani

   the people are inside the room

Inflection

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

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

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Swedish

Noun

mo c

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

Declension

Declension of mo
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	mo	mon	moar	moarna
Genitive	mos	mons	moars	moarnas

Derived terms

• mosnäppa
• pinnmo
• morot

Anagrams

• om

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Tagalog

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo/

Adjective

mo

1. second person singular possessive adjective; your

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Tuvaluan

Preposition

mo

1. for

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Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [mɔ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [mɔ˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [mɔ˧˧]

Noun

mo • (𥷺, 𧄲)

1. spathe of the areca tree

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Westrobothnian

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /múː/, [mɯ́ᵝː] (example of pronunciation)

  Rhymes: -úːð

  (ð-dropping) Rhymes: -úː, -úːð

  (ð-r merger) Rhymes: -úːð, -úːr

Noun

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

• modd
• moes
• morasam
• missmodd

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Yao

Yao cardinal numbers

<  0	1	2  >
Cardinal : mo

Etymology

Cognates include Swahili moja.

Numeral

mo

1. one

Usage notes

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.