én

Danish

Numeral

én

1. Alternative form of en

Pronoun

én

1. Alternative form of en

Usage notes

Accent is optional, and reflects intonation. Compare, for example, hun har kun en kat "she only has a cat" with hun har kun én kat "she has only one cat".

Hungarian

Etymology

From Old Hungarian ɛ̄n. Usually considered to continue the Proto-Uralic first-person pronoun *minä (compare e.g. Finnish minä), but there is no consensus on how the Hungarian word has developed to its present shape. At least four proposals have been advanced:

1. irregular loss of the word-initial *m-
2. from earlier *ɛmen, through the vocalization and loss of word-internal *-m-, as in many other cases such as ó (“old”)
3. from earlier *ɛ̄mn, with the cluster *mn simplified to n
4. from earlier *ɛ̄m, derived from the shorter Uralic root *mi, and with the irregular simplification of the root-final *-m to -n, perhaps first in the accusative engem (< ? *ɛmgɛm).

The last three options assume that the word was prefixed with *ɛ- at some point, perhaps an intensifying particle, or from the Proto-Uralic pronoun root *e- (“this”) (compare ez (“this”)).

Similarly irregular first-person pronouns occur in Mansi: Northern Mansi ам (am), Southern Mansi (äm), and even in Chuvash: эпӗ (ep̬ĕ) from Proto-Turkic *ben. If these have a similar origin as the Hungarian word, they are the most compatible with the third and fourth explanations.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːn

Pronoun

én

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

   Én vagyok a képen. ― I am in the picture.

Declension

Derived terms

Note: In all these forms, én is optional and only serves for emphasis.

• énalattam, énáltalam, énelőttem, etc. (én + a postposition with the first-person singular personal suffix; see Appendix:Hungarian postpositions)
• énnekem, énvelem, énhozzám etc. (én + one of the declined forms listed in the chart above; see Appendix:Hungarian pronouns)

Noun

én (plural ének)

1. (psychology) self, ego

Declension

Derived terms

References

Further reading

• én in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
• én in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (‘A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2024)

Ligurian

Verb

én

1. third-person plural present indicative of êse; “ are”

Mandarin

Alternative forms

• en — nonstandard

Romanization

én (en², Zhuyin ㄣˊ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 嗯

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Numeral

én

1. stressed form of en

Derived terms

• énskinnebane

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• hén

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eːn/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *ɸetnos.

Noun

én m (genitive éuin or éoin, nominative plural éuin or éoin)

1. bird

Inflection

Descendants

• Irish: éan
• Manx: eean
• Scottish Gaelic: eun
• ⇒ Middle Irish: senén

Etymology 2

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

Interjection

én!

1. lo!

Mutation

References

• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 én”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “2 én”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Scanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Numeral

én

1. one.

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *ʔɛːnʔ, non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 燕 (SV: yến). Doublet of yến.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key):
• (Huế) IPA^(key):
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key):

Noun

(classifier con) én • (燕)

1. a swallow (bird)

   Synonym: nhạn

2. (loosely) Synonym of yến (“swift”) (bird)