mou

See also: môu, Mou, MOU, MoU, móu, mòu, mōu, mǒu, and mᵒū

English

Etymology

From Cantonese 冇 (mou5), also influenced by Malay mau variant of mahu (“to want”).

Particle

mou

1. (Malaysia, Singapore, colloquial, mainly Cantonese speakers) Sentence-final particle, forms a tag question.

   Kopitiam mou? ― Do you want to go to the coffee shop?

   Day trip mou? ― Do you want to go on a day trip?

   Hiking tomorrow. Onz mou? ― I/We are going on a hike tomorrow. Are you coming?

Anagrams

• UOM

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch mouw, from Middle Dutch mouwe, from Old Dutch *mouwa, *mōwa, from Frankish *mauwa, from Proto-Germanic *mawwō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mœu̯/

Noun

mou (plural moue)

1. sleeve

Derived terms

• die aap uit die mou laat
• in sy mou lag

Äiwoo

Adjective

mou

1. dark grue (dark green, dark blue)

References

• Ross, M. & Næss, Å. (2007) “An Oceanic origin for Äiwoo, the language of the Reef Islands?”, in Oceanic Linguistics, volume 46, number 2. Cited in: "Äiwoo" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin modus.

Noun

mou m (plural moos)

1. way; manner
2. result

Derived terms

• a mou
• d'otru mou
• de mou que

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈmɔw]
• Rhymes: -ɔw

Verb

mou

1. inflection of moure:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmou̯]

Pronoun

mou

1. accusative/instrumental feminine singular of můj

Fijian

Etymology

Related to macou from Proto-Oceanic *mʷasoqu.

Noun

mou

1. (Kadavu) any plant from the Cinnamomum genus.
   1. spice of its bark, cinnamon

Synonyms

• macou
• maiu (Namosa)

References

• Ross, Malcolm D., Pawley, Andrew, Osmond, Meredith (2008) The lexicon of Proto-Oceanic, volume 3: Plants, Canberra: Australian National University, →ISBN, pages 191-3
• Gatty, Ronald (2009) “macou”, in Fijian-English Dictionary, Suva, Fiji: Ronald Gatty, →ISBN, page 150

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French mol, inherited from Latin mollem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mu/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: moud, mouds, moue, moues, mous, moût, moûts

Adjective

mou (masculine singular before vowel mol, feminine molle, masculine plural mous, feminine plural molles)

1. soft, pliable, flabby, mushy, squishy
2. (figuratively, of humans, animals, events) lacking vigor or strength; tardy, slow, slack, weak; (of humans) easy to persuade, convince
3. (informal, derogatory) pansy, spineless
4. causing or smacking of tardiness, indolence; debilitating

   Une molle complaisance ― A debilitating complacency

5. (of pillows, matresses, etc.) comfortable, soft

Derived terms

• couille molle
• mou du genou
• ne pas promettre poires molles
• palais mou
• science molle
• signe mou
• ventre mou

Noun

mou m (plural mous)

1. (nominalized, poetic) pliability, softness, mushiness
2. (butchering) lungs, lights (of a slaughtered animal) sold as lesser quality meat for cats or other pets
3. (chiefly partitively and climbing, of a rope) slack

   Coordinate term: sec

   donne moi du mou ! ― pay me out some slack!

   l'escaladeur n'avait pas assez de mou pour le dévers ― the mountain climber didn't have enough slack for the overhang

   sec ? - non, du mou ! ― do I take up the slack? - no, pay me some more!

4. something soft, pliable or mushy
5. a man lacking impetuousness and decision; a pansy, softy

   Synonyms: faible, hommelet

   Antonym: dur

6. (politics) a moderate

Derived terms

• coup de mou
• donner du mou

Further reading

• “mou”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Derived from French caramel mou (“soft caramel”). Attested since 1942. Doublet of molle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmu/^*, /ˈmu/^°
• Rhymes: -u

Noun

mou m or f

1. toffee (soft candy made from milk and caramelized sugar)

Adjective

mou (invariable)

1. made of toffee

Derived terms

• caramella mou
• salsa mou (“caramel sauce”)

Mandarin

Romanization

mou

1. Nonstandard spelling of mōu.
2. Nonstandard spelling of móu.
3. Nonstandard spelling of mǒu.
4. Nonstandard spelling of mòu.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Maori

Etymology

Elision of motu.

Noun

mou

1. island, islet, alternative form of motu

Middle English

Noun

mou

1. Alternative form of mowe (“haystack”)

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• mó, moa, móo

Etymology

Remodelled from the superlative moam on the analogy with regular adjectives.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo.u/

Adjective

mou

1. comparative degree of mór

Mutation

Mutation of mou

radical	lenition	nasalization
mou also mmou after a proclitic ending in a vowel	mou pronounced with /β̃(ʲ)-/	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

• Kim McCone (1994) “An tSean-Ghaeilge agus a Réamhstair”, in K. McCone, D. McManus, C. Ó Háinle, N. Williams, L. Breatnach, editors, Stair na Gaeilge: in ómós do P[h]ádraig Ó Fiannachta (in Irish), Maynooth: Roinn na Sean-Ghaeilge, Coláiste Phádraig, →ISBN, §20.3, page 125:

  Síolraíonn SG brc. mó ‘níos mó’ (gnáthfhoirm Wb.) go díreach ó *máu (11.3-4) < *māūh < *mā(y)ūs (> Briot. *mōīh > MB mwy) […]. D’imoibrigh bun-, breis agus sár-chéim ar a chéile i ré na Sean-Ghaeilge: m.sh., […] brc. móa (Wb.) faoi thionchar leithéide oa ‘níos óige’ thuas, agus brc. mou (gnáthfhoirm Ml.) ar bhonn src. moam de réir an ghaoil idir brc. córu ‘níos córa’, src. córam ‘is córa’ (cf. 3.7) agus mar sin de san aicme rialta.

Old Occitan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔw/

Verb

mou

1. third-person singular present indicative of mover

Ternate

Etymology

Cognate with West Makian mou (“mute”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmo.u/

Verb

mou

1. (stative) to be mute

Conjugation

Conjugation of mou

		singular	plural
			inclusive	exclusive
1st person		tomou	fomou	mimou
2nd person		nomou	nimou
3rd person	masculine	omou	imou yomou (archaic)
	feminine	momou
	neuter	imou

References

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

West Makian

Etymology

Cognate with Ternate mou (“mute”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmo.u/

Verb

mou

1. (stative) to be mute

Conjugation

Conjugation of mou (stative verb)

		singular	plural
			inclusive	exclusive
1st person		timou	mimou	amou
2nd person		nimou	fimou
3rd person	inanimate	imou	dimou
	animate	mamou
imperative		—, mou	—, mou

References

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎^[1], Pacific linguistics (as mow)

Western Cham

Alternative forms

• مۉ

Etymology

Elision of lemou related to Malay lembu

Noun

mou

1. cow

Zhuang

Etymology

From Proto-Tai *ʰmuːᴬ (“pig”). Cognate with Thai หมู (mǔu), Northern Thai ᩉ᩠ᨾᩪ, Lao ໝູ (mū), Lü ᦖᦴ (ṁuu), Tai Dam ꪢꪴ, Tai Nüa ᥛᥧᥴ (mú), Shan မူ (mǔu), Ahom 𑜉𑜥 (mū), Bouyei mul, Nong Zhuang mu, Saek หมู่.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /mou˨˦/
• Tone numbers: mou¹
• Hyphenation: mou

Noun

mou (classifier duz, Sawndip forms 𭸘 or 𭸙 or 𤝖 or 某 or 𭸲, 1957–1982 spelling mou)

1. pig

Derived terms

• moubing
• moucauz
• mouduenh
• mougangq
• mougo
• mougvaqcauz
• mougyauh
• mouhaeuxsan
• moulangz
• moumehrangx
• moumixsan
• mounoh
• mouraq
• mouraih
• mouraemx
• mouseng
• mousij
• muimou
• roengqmou
• songzmou
• sugmou