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နှီး. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
နှီး, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
နှီး in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Burmese
Etymology
The "be close" sense appears to be related to နီး (ni:, “near”).
The "bamboo strip" sense, though grouped with the "be close" sense by MED, is tentatively derived by STEDT from a Proto-Lolo-Burmese *ʔ-nay¹/² ~ ʔ-ney² (“fiber, bamboo strip (for tying)”), from Proto-Tibeto-Burman *ʔ-ney (“bamboo strip (for tying)”), and compared with Akha (nè, “bamboo strip”). Luce 1981's comparison with Old Chinese 篾 (OC *meːd, “bamboo strip”) appears phonetically unconvincing.
It is unclear whether the "spread something" sense is related to either of the above; MED groups them together, while STEDT implicitly separates the "spread" sense and leaves its origin open (hnî "spread out, for purpose of"). Luce 1981 appears to implicitly consider it a semantic extension of the "bamboo strip" sense, though.
Pronunciation
Verb
နှီး • (hni:)
- to spread or place something under another thing
- to be close, be connected, join
Noun
နှီး • (hni:)
- thin bamboo strips used in weaving mats, baskets, etc and in tying things
Derived terms
Further reading