mo

See also: Appendix:Variations of "mo"

Languages (52)

Translingual • English

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Abau • Abinomn • Adangme • Akan • Albanian • Alemannic German • Amanab • Angguruk Yali • Antillean Creole • Central Bikol • Dongxiang • Esperanto • Finnish • Galician • Haitian Creole • Irish • Italian • Japanese • Kalasha • Kamkata-viri • Kapampangan • Lashi • Latin • Lolopo • Louisiana Creole • Mandarin • Matlatzinca • Mauritian Creole • Middle English • Norman • Northern Sami • Norwegian Bokmål • Norwegian Nynorsk • Old Irish • Old Occitan • Portuguese • Réunion Creole French • Samoan • Sango • Scottish Gaelic • Sicilian • Swahili • Swedish • Tagalog • Tuvaluan • Vietnamese • Welsh • West Makian • Yao (Africa) • Yoruba

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Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Moldovan, from Romanian Moldova.

Symbol

mo

1. (international standards, obsolete) Former ISO 639-1 language code for Moldovan.

English

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (General Australian):

  (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 *meh₂-. 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.
   • 1564 February, Erasmus, “The Saiynges of Aristippus”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., Apophthegmes, that is to Saie, Prompte, Quicke, Wittie and Sentẽcious Saiynges, […], London: […] Ihon Kingston, →OCLC, book I, folio 43, verso, paragraph 42:

     When he had ſaied no: what (ſaid Ariſtippus) is it ſhame to ſaile in a Shippe, that hath afoꝛetymes caried a great nomber mo: […]

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)
   • 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

   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew xxij:

     Nether durste eny man from that daye forth axe hym eny moo questions.

Etymology 2

Clipping of month.

Symbol

mo

2. month

   Alternative forms: mo., mon, m, M

   12 yr 4 mo 17 d

Etymology 3

Noun

mo (uncountable)

1. (colloquial) Clipping of moment.

   Synonyms: bit, sec, tick; see also Thesaurus: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

Non-rhotic pronunciation of more. Only coincidentally similar to sense 1 above. Compare fo' (“for; four”), ho (“whore”).

Adjective

mo (not comparable)

2. (dialectal, African-American Vernacular) Alternative form of mo' (“more”).

   Yo, you got mo chips?

   • 1997, “Mo Money Mo Problems”, in Life After Death, performed by The Notorious B.I.G. ft. Ma$e and Diddy:

     I guess this mean mo money, mo problems for you?

Etymology 6

Clipping of moustache.

Noun

mo (plural mos)

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

Derived terms

• Movember

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

Etymology 8

Clipping.

Noun

mo (plural mos)

1. (slang) A moron.
   • 1997, “Detox”, in City, performed by Strapping Young Lad:

     Hey, you mo! Hey, you mo! Hey, you mo! Hey, you mo!

Etymology 9

From mil, by analogy with do and gro.

Numeral

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

• do, gro

See also

• ang mo
• big mo
• eeny-meeny-miney-mo
• fast-mo
• half a mo
• ke-mo sah-bee
• mo-cap
• mo-di
• mo-mo
• mo-ped
• mo qua
• mo shu
• po-mo
• slo-mo

Anagrams

• O&M, O.M., OM, om

Abau

Particle

mo

1. (emphatic) really, even
2. marks the topic of the clause, sentence, or conversation
3. marks the preceding plural NP as genitive (association or possession)
4. indicates the interrogative

Adverb

mo

1. indicates the negative

References

• Abau Dictionary © 2020 SIL International (Available online: [2])

Abinomn

Noun

mo

1. (anatomy) stomach

Adangme

Pronoun

mo

1. you

   I suɔ mo.

   I love you.

Akan

Pronoun

mo

1. ye, you (plural)

Albanian

Alternative forms

• mos

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *mē, from Proto-Indo-European *méh₁ (prohibitive particle).

Particle

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

1. don't

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

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Amanab

Etymology

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

Noun

mo

1. speech, language, word

Angguruk Yali

Noun

mo

1. sun

References

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

Antillean Creole

Etymology

From French mot (“word”).

Noun

mo

1. word

Central Bikol

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo/ [mo]
• Hyphenation: mo

Pronoun

mo (Basahan spelling ᜋᜓ)

1. second person singular possessive adjective; your

See also

Central Bikol personal pronouns

Person	Number	Absolute		Ergative		Oblique
Length		Full	Short	Full	Short
First	singular	ako		ko		sakuya, sako
	plural inclusive	kita		nyato	ta	satuya, sato
	plural exclusive	kami		nyamo	mi	samuya, samo
Second	singular	ika	ka	mo		saimo, simo
	plural	kamo		nindo		saindo
Third	singular	siya		niya		saiya
	plural	sinda		ninda		sainda

Dongxiang

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo/

Noun

mo

1. road, path

   nie fade bi zhin mo jiere yawuzhi saozhi wo.

   one time I was walking on the road.

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o
• Syllabification: mo

Noun

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

1. The name of the Latin script letter M/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

Further reading

• “mo”, in Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto [Complete Illustrated Dictionary of Esperanto], 2020, →ISBN
• “mo”, in Reta Vortaro [Online Dictionary] (in Esperanto), 1997-2026

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoˣ/, [ˈmo̞(ʔ)]
• Rhymes: -o
• Syllabification^(key): mo
• Hyphenation^(key): mo

Interjection

mo

1. (slang, colloquial) clipping of moi (“hi, hello”)

Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mʊ]

Contraction

mo (plural mos, feminine singular ma, feminine plural mas)

1. contraction of me +‎ o

   Damo! ― Give it to me!

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French mot (“word”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

mo

1. word

References

• Targète, Jean; Urciolo, Raphael (1993), Haitian Creole-English Dictionary‎^[3], Dunwoody Press, →ISBN, page 131

Irish

Alternative forms

• m’ (used before vowel sounds)

Etymology

From Old Irish mo, mu; see there for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mˠə/
• (Munster, also) IPA^(key): /mˠo/
• (Ulster, also) IPA^(key): /mˠa/

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

	person		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	m	sé (seisean)	é (eisean)	a L
		f	sí (sise)	í (ise)	a H
		n	—	ea	—
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.
For instance, "myself" = mé féin, "yourselves" = sibh féin.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “mo”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959), “mo”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “mo”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2026

Italian

Alternative forms

• mo'
• mò (misspelling)
• mó (misspelling)

Etymology

Inherited from Latin modo (“recently, just now”) or Latin mox (“soon”), possibly a merger of both.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔ/^*
  • Rhymes: -ɔ
  • Hyphenation: mò
  • Homophone: mo'
• (regional, Romanesco) IPA^(key): /ˈmo/^*
  • Rhymes: -o
  • Hyphenation: mó

Adverb

mo (dialectal or colloquial)

1. (in the present) now

   Synonyms: ora, adesso

   E mo che voi?

   What do you want now?

   Mo so' cazzi tua.

   It's your business now.

2. (in the near future) soon, in a moment

   Synonyms: subito, tra poco

   E 'n attimo! Mo lo faccio!

   Wait a second! I'll do it in a moment!

   Aspetta! Mo arivo!

   Wait! I'm coming!

   Mo te faccio vede.

   I'll show you.

3. (in the near past) recently, just now

   Synonyms: appena, poco fa

   Ce so' stato mo.

   I've been there just now.

4. (originally ironic) See da mo.
5. (repeated) See mo mo.

Further reading

• Pianigiani, Ottorino (1907), “mo”, in Vocabolario etimologico della lingua italiana (in Italian), Rome: Albrighi & Segati

Japanese

Romanization

mo

1. The hiragana syllable も (mo) or the katakana syllable モ (mo) in Hepburn romanization.

Kalasha

Etymology

From Sanskrit मा (mā́), from Proto-Indo-European *méh₁ (prohibitive particle). Cognate with Hindi मत (mat), Persian مـ (ma-), Albanian mo.

Particle

mo

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

Kamkata-viri

Etymology

Probably an early borrowing of Middle Chinese 米 (mej^X). Compare Ashkun mā, Tregami myä, Waigali mä.

Noun

mo f (Southeastern)

1. husked rice

Kapampangan

Etymology

From mu +‎ ya.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈman/ [ˈman]

Adverb

mo

1. although; even if; even though

   Synonyms: agyang, man

   Kumabieng bakamo. ― Perhaps even if I live.

   Kumaili parin, pusung manasakitmo. ― I will keep smiling, even though my heart aches a lot.

2. also; no matter what; and

   Synonyms: din, pati, agyaman, ampo

   Mipakananumo ― No matter what happens.

   Asumo pusamo buring-buri. ― I love both dogs and cats.

   Yakumo ― Me too.

   Sinabianan nakung nanumo. ― S/he also told me something.

Derived terms

• bagamo
• makanitamo
• namo
• nanumo
• ninumo
• numbagamo
• pamo
• sakali pamo

Pronoun

mo

1. alternative spelling of mula
2. alternative spelling of muya
3. alternative spelling of mu
4. alternative spelling of me

Kapampangan personal pronouns

		absolute		ergative	oblique
		disjunctive	enclitic
first person	singular	aku/i aku/yaku	ku		kanaku
	plural inclusive	ikatamu	katamu/tamu	tamu/ta	kekatamu
	plural exclusive	ikami, ike	kami/ke	mi	kekami/keke
second person	singular	ika	ka	mu	keka
	plural	ikayu/iko	kayu/ko	yu	kekayu/keko
third person	singular	iya/ya	ya	na	keya/kaya
	plural	ila	la	da/ra	karela

Lashi

Pronunciation

• (Waingmaw) IPA^(key): [mɔ˧˧]
• (Chipwe) IPA^(key): [mɔ˨˩]
• (Mongko) IPA^(key): [mɔ˥˧]
• Hyphenation: mo

Postposition

mo

1. from, away from
   • 2005, “Apoem ayang꞉ 1:4 [Genesis 1:4]”, in Jhoem꞉ mougsougˮ [The Book of the Bible]‎^[4], page 2:

     Houg꞉ lho꞉ nyang꞉ gi booˮ bang ri moug꞉ coid mo khoʼ pyam

     Then he split the light from the darkness

Derived terms

• gang mo

References

• Mark Wannemacher (2011), A phonological overview of the Lacid language‎^[5], Chiang Mai: Payap University., page 30
• Hkaw Luk (2017), A grammatical sketch of Lacid‎^[6], Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis), page 24

Latin

Reverse of a silver penny of Æthelstan of England with the inscription REGNALD MO EFORǷIC ("Regnald Moneyer at York")

Noun

mo

1. (Medieval Latin, historical) abbreviation of monētārius (moneyer, minter) in its various forms.

Lolopo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mo³³]

Etymology 1

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

Suffix

mo

1. (Yao'an) female

See also

• por
• bol

Etymology 2

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

Noun

mo

1. (Yao'an) bamboo

Louisiana Creole

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Probably inherited from French "moi/mon".”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo/
• Rhymes: -o
• Homophone: mô

Pronoun

mo (first person singular, plural nouzòt, nou, no, objective mò, possessive determiner mô, possessive pronoun mokin, mochin)

1. I (first person singular nominative (subject) pronoun)

   Mo té manké twa.

   I missed you.

Derived terms

• (prevocalic) m'

Mandarin

Romanization

mo (mo⁵ / mo⁰, Zhuyin ˙ㄇㄛ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 麼 / 么, 麽 / 么, 么, 庅

mo

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

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.

Matlatzinca

Noun

mo

1. foot

References

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

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.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• ma, moe

Etymology

From Old English mā, from Proto-Germanic *maiz, from a comparative form of Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔː/
• Rhymes: -ɔː

Adjective

mo

1. more numerous; larger in amount
2. greater in quantity or intensity
3. additional, further, other (persons or things in addition to those mentioned)
4. higher in social status

Adverb

mo

1. to a greater degree; more
2. longer, again, any more
3. besides, also, further, else

Derived terms

• most
• no mo

Descendants

• English: mo

References

• “mō, adj..”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “mō, adv..”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norman

Etymology

From Latin mollis.

Adjective

mo m

1. (Jersey) soft

Derived terms

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

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

• Eino Koponen, Klaas Ruppel, Kirsti Aapala, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎^[7], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

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.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

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

Noun

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

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

Etymology 2

Perhaps from the noun moe m.

Adjective

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

1. close, sultry

Etymology 3

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

Alternative forms

• mod (alternative spelling)

Adjective

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

1. tired, weary

Etymology 4

From Old Norse moð.

Alternative forms

• mò (alternative spelling)

Noun

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

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

Etymology 5

From German, originally moder.

Adverb

mo

1. Used as an intensifier about loneliness

   Synonym: mutters

Etymology 6

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

mo

1. imperative of moa

References

• “mo” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• mò, Mo, om, óm

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• mu
• m’ (used before vowel sounds)

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *mene, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁mene, genitive of *éǵh₂. The Goidelic forms came from *mene being remodelled into *mowe by analogy with *towe (“your”) (whence do (“your”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo/

Determiner

mo (triggers lenition)

1. my
2. me (direct object pronoun before verbal noun)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:mo.

Descendants

• Irish: mo
• Scottish Gaelic: mo
• Manx: my

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 mo”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Old Occitan

Pronoun

mo m (feminine ma, masculine plural mos)

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

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• m'o (pre-standardization spelling)

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): (unstressed) /mu/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): (unstressed) /mu/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): (unstressed) /mo/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): (unstressed) /mu/

• Hyphenation: mo

Contraction

mo (feminine ma, masculine plural mos, feminine plural mas)

1. contraction of me +‎ o, literally “him/it to me”

Réunion Creole French

Etymology

From French mot (“word”).

Noun

mo

1. word

Samoan

Preposition

mo

1. for

Sango

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔ˩/

Pronoun

mo

1. you, thou (second-person singular pronoun)

See also

Sango personal pronouns

		singular	plural
1st		mbï	ë
2nd	familiar	mo	âla
	polite	âla
3rd		lo	âla

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish mo. Cognates include Irish mo.

Determiner

mo (triggers lenition)

1. my

See also

Scottish Gaelic possessive determiners

		singular		plural
		+ C	+ V	+ C	+ V
first person		moL	m'	ar	arN
second person		doL	d'	ur	urN
third person	m	aL	—	an, am1	an
	f	a	aH

^L Triggers lenition; ^H Triggers H-prothesis; ^N Triggers eclipsis
¹ Used before b-, f-, m- or p-

References

• Armstrong, R. A. (1825), “mo”, in A Gaelic Dictionary, in Two Parts‎^[8], London, →OCLC

Sicilian

Etymology

Unstressed monosyllabic form likely derived from Old Catalan mon, from Vulgar Latin *mum, reduced form of Latin meum, from Proto-Italic *meos. Cognate with Old Occitan mo, French mon. Compare also the indirect (but homomorph) Scottish Gaelic and Irish mo. Doublet of meu.

Pronunciation

• (Acireale, Buscemi) IPA^(key): /mɔ/, [mɔ]
• Rhymes: -ɔ
• Hyphenation: mo

Pronoun

mo m (feminine mea or mia or me', masculine plural mei or me' or miei, feminine plural mei or me' or miei)

1. (dialectal variant) first-person masculine singular possessive pronoun, alternative form of meu

See also

• (a) mia
• (a) tia

Swahili

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Verb

-mo

1. present stem of -wamo (“to be (inside there)”)

   wamo ― they are inside

See also

• -mo: verbal affix
• -wapo (“to be (at a definite place)”)
• -wako (“to be (at an indefinite place)”)

Swedish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Norse mór.

Noun

mo c

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

Declension

Declension of mo

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	mo	mos
	definite	mon	mons
plural	indefinite	moar	moars
	definite	moarna	moarnas

Derived terms

• mosnäppa
• pinnmo
• morot

Anagrams

• om

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• Mo — honorific alternative case

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *-mu (2sg. possessor and agent of passive verb). Compare Malay -mu.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /mo/ [mo]
• Rhymes: -o
• Syllabification: mo

Pronoun

mo (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜓ) (postpositive)

1. your; of you; by you (singular)

See also

Tagalog personal pronouns

Person	Number	Direct (ang)	Indirect (ng)	Oblique (sa)
First	singular	ako	ko	akin
	dual1	kita, kata	nita, nata, ta	kanita, kanata, ata
	plural inclusive	tayo	natin	atin
	plural exclusive	kami	namin	amin
First & Second	singular	kita2
Second	singular	ikaw, ka	mo	iyo
	plural	kayo, kamo	ninyo, niyo	inyo
Third	singular	siya	niya	kaniya
	plural	sila	nila	kanila

¹ First person dual pronouns are not commonly used in Standard Tagalog.
² Replaces ko ikaw.

Further reading

• “mo”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018
• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*-mu”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

Tuvaluan

Preposition

mo

1. for

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [mɔ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [mɔ˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [mɔ˧˧]

Etymology 1

Compare Tày bo, which suggests previous *ɓ-.

Noun

mo • (𥷺, 謨)

1. (botany) spathe of the areca tree

   quạt mo ― a fan made from areca spathes

Derived terms

• mặt mo

Etymology 2

Of Tai origin, compare Thai หมอ (mɔ̌ɔ).

Noun

mo

1. short for thầy mo

Welsh

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔ/

Particle

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

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 (literary & colloquial)

	singular	plural
first person	mohono	mohonon
second person	mohonot	mohonoch
third person	mohono m mohoni f	mohonyn

See also

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

Mutation

Does not mutate.

West Makian

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo/

Verb

mo

1. (transitive) to swallow
2. (transitive) to slurp up, to suck up

Conjugation

Conjugation of mo (action verb)

		singular	plural
			inclusive	exclusive
1st person		tomo	momo	amo
2nd person		nomo	fomo
3rd person	inanimate	imo	domo
	animate
imperative		nomo, mo	fomo, mo

Etymology 2

For the semantic development of the interjection, compare Spanish ya (“already; come on!”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo/

Adverb

mo

1. alternative form of omo (“already”)

Interjection

mo

1. come!
2. come on!

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo/

Verb

mo

1. (stative) alternative form of mu (“ripe”)

Conjugation

Conjugation of mo (stative verb)

		singular	plural
			inclusive	exclusive
1st person		timo	mimo	amo
2nd person		nimo	fimo
3rd person	inanimate	imo	dimo
	animate	mamo
imperative		—, mo	—, mo

References

• James Collins (1982), Further Notes Towards a West Makian Vocabulary‎^[9], Pacific linguistics
• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982), The Makian languages and their neighbours‎^[10], Pacific linguistics

Yao (Africa)

Yao (Africa) 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.

Yoruba

Alternative forms

• mi (used in a negative sentence, or generally in some dialects)
• n (used in negative or future sentences, or with kí)

Etymology

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

Pronoun

mo

1. I (first-person singular personal pronoun)

See also

Yoruba personal pronouns

		subject		object1	emphatic
		affirmative	negative
singular	1st person	mo	n̄ / mi	mi	èmi
	2nd person	o		ọ / ẹ	ìwọ
	3rd person	ó	[pronoun dropped]	[preceding vowel repeated for mono­syllabic verbs] / ẹ̀	òun
plural	1st person	a		wa	àwa
	2nd person	ẹ		yín	ẹ̀yin
	3rd person	wọ́n	wọn	wọn	àwọn

¹ 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.