ငါးမန်း

Burmese

Etymology

ငါး (nga:, “fish”) + a component မန်း (man:), of unclear interpretation and origin. MED connects မန်း (man:) to the "recite mantra" sense, which is semantically unconvincing, while STEDT and Luce 1981 do not mention this term. Note, however, similarities to Old Chinese 鰻 (OC *moːn, *mons, “eel”) (though the Burmese word for "eel", ငါးရှဉ့် (nga:hrany.), is unrelated to the Chinese).

Pronunciation

• Phonetic respelling: ငါး'မန်း
• IPA^(key): /ŋəmáɴ/
• Romanization: MLCTS: nga:man: • ALA-LC: ṅāʺmanʻʺ • BGN/PCGN: ngăman: • Okell: ngămàñ

Noun

ငါးမန်း • (nga:man:) (classifier ကောင်)

1. shark (fish)

Derived terms

• ငါးမန်းကျွဲ (nga:man:kywai:)
• ငါးမန်းကား (nga:man:ka:)
• ငါးမန်းစွယ် (nga:man:cwai)
• ငါးမန်းစွယ်သည် (nga:man:cwaisany)
• ငါးမန်းတောင် (nga:man:taung)

 

Descendants

• → Shan: ပႃငမၢၼ်း (pǎa ngǎ máan)
• → Jingpho: ngăman

Further reading

• “ငါးမန်း” in Myanmar–English Dictionary (Myanmar Language Commission 1993). Searchable online at SEAlang.net.