ماء

Arabic

 ماء on Arabic Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From Proto-Semitic *māy-, from Proto-Afroasiatic *maʔ-, reanalyzed in the plural as if from root م و ه (m-w-h), whence the verbal derivative مَاهَ (māha), which is alternatively conjugated as deriving from م ي ه (m-y-h). Cognate with Hebrew מים (máyim).

Alternative forms

• مَاه (māh), مَي (may) — poetic or dialectal

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maːʔ/
• (with nunation)

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Noun

مَاء • (māʔ) m (dual مَاءَان (māʔān) or مَاوَان (māwān) or مَايَان (māyān), plural مِيَاه (miyāh) or أَمْوَاه (ʔamwāh) or أَمْوَاء (ʔamwāʔ))

1. (usually uncountable) water
2. liquid, fluid
   1. the liquefied or molten form of a metal (usually gold, silver, or copper)
   2. (dated, sometimes euphemistic, of humans or animals) conceptive fluid; ejaculation

      Synonym: مَنِيّ (maniyy)

      • 7th century CE, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

        قَالَ: اللَّٰهُمَّ ٱشْهَدْ عَلَيْهِمْ، فَأَنْشُدُكُمْ بِاللهِ ٱلَّذِي لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ، ٱلَّذِي أَنْزَلَ ٱلتَّوْرَاةَ عَلَى مُوسَى، هَلْ تَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّ مَاءَ ٱلرَّجُلِِ أَبْيَضُ غَلِيظٌ، وَأَنَّ مَاءَ ٱلْمَرْأَةِ أَصْفَرُ رَقِيقٌ، فَأَيُّهُمَا عَلَا كَانَ لَهُ ٱلْوَلَدُ وَٱلشَّبَهُ بِإِذْنِ اللهِ؟ إِنْ عَلَا مَاءُ ٱلرَّجُلِ عَلَى مَاءِ ٱلْمَرْأَةِ كَانَ ذَكَرًا بِإِذْنِ اللهِ، وَإِنْ عَلَا مَاءُ ٱلْمَرْأةِ عَلَى مَاءِ ٱلرَّجُلِ كَانَ أُنْثَى بِإِذْنِ اللهِ؟، قَالُوا: ٱللَّٰهُمَّ نَعَمْ

        qāla: allāhumma šhad ʕalayhim, faʔanšudukum bi-l-lāhi llaḏī lā ʔilāha ʔillā huwa, llaḏī ʔanzala t-tawrāta ʕalā mūsā, hal taʕlamūna ʔanna māʔa r-rajulii ʔabyaḍu ḡalīẓun, waʔanna māʔa l-marʔati ʔaṣfaru raqīqun, faʔayyuhumā ʕalā kāna lahu l-waladu waš-šabahu biʔiḏni llāhi? ʔin ʕalā māʔu r-rajuli ʕalā māʔi l-marʔati kāna ḏakaran biʔiḏni llāhi, waʔin ʕalā māʔu l-marʔati ʕalā māʔi r-rajuli kāna ʔunṯā biʔiḏni llāhi?, qālū: llāhumma naʕam

        he said, “O Allah, bear witness to what they say! By Allah, who is the only god and who revealed the Torah to Moses, do you not know that the fluid of men is white and thick and that of women is yellow and thin? The gender and the looks of the offspring are determined by whichever of them rises : if the fluid of the man rises above the woman's, the child becomes a male if Allah wills it, and if the fluid of the woman rises above the man's, the child becomes a female if Allah wills it. " they said, "By Allah, yes.”

Usage notes

• All the alternative forms are either chiefly poetic or dialectal. The dual forms are also almost never used. Conversely, the plural form مِيَاه (miyāh) is fairly common.
• In the sense “ejaculation”, the word, as well as مَنِيّ (maniyy), may be used freely to refer to humans and animals. Medieval Arabic sources typically do not lexically distinguish between male and female ejaculation as both are conceived as determining factors in conception in a manner analogous to, albeit different from, Aristotle's inheritance model. Modern sources, however, typically emphasize a distinction between the two, thus limiting the use of مَنِيّ (maniyy) to male ejaculation.

Declension

Derived terms

• مَاء وَرْد (māʔ ward)
• مَاوِيّ (māwiyy, “aquatic”)
• مَائِيّ (māʔiyy, “aquatic”)

Related terms

• مُوَيْه (muwayh, “little water”)
• مَاءَة (māʔa), مَاهَة (māha), مَاة (māh)

Descendants

• Algerian Arabic: ما (mā)
• Andalusian Arabic: ما (mā)
• Baharna Arabic: مي (me)
• Chadian Arabic: المي (almi)
• Egyptian Arabic: مية (máyya)
• Gulf Arabic: ماي (māy)
• Hassaniya Arabic: ما (ma)
• Hijazi Arabic: موية (mōya)
• Iraqi Arabic: ماي (māy)
• Juba Arabic: moya
• Nubi: moyo
• Libyan Arabic: مي (me)
• Maltese: ilma
• Moroccan Arabic: ما (mā)
• North Levantine Arabic: مَي (may)
• South Levantine Arabic: مي (ṃayy)
• Sudanese Arabic: موية (mōya)

References

• Wehr, Hans (1979) “موه”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maː.ʔa/

Verb

مَاءَ • (māʔa) I, non-past يَمُوءُ‎ (yamūʔu)

1. to meow

Conjugation

Sindhi

Noun

ماء • (māu) f (Devanagari माउ)

1. mother

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic مَاء (māʔ).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /mɑː(ʔ)/

Noun

ماء • (māʾ) m (Hindi spelling मा)

1. water, juice, liquid

   Synonym: پانی (pānī)

References

• “ماء”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “ماء”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary , Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.