m-

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "m" and mu-

Translingual

Prefix

m-

  1. (SI prefix) Abbreviation of milli-.
  2. (biology) murine; pertaining to mice

Coordinate terms

murine

Derived terms

Translingual terms prefixed with m-

English

Prefix

m-

  1. (organic chemistry) meta-

See also

Albanian

Prefix

m-

  1. Alternative form of n- before labials

Basque

Etymology

Compare the expressive prefix ma-.

Prefix

m-

  1. Non-productive expressive prefix.

Usage notes

Usually, this prefix takes the form /ma/, /mi/, /mu/, followed by a velar or coronal plosive, followed by any vowel, followed by a liquid. For example: mozkor (“drunk”), mutur (“snout, end”), makur (“crooked”).

References

  • “m-” in Etymological Dictionary of Basque by R. L. Trask, sussex.ac.uk

Egyptian

Etymology

From Proto-Afroasiatic *m- (nominal prefix).[1]

Pronunciation

 

Prefix

m
  1. forms masculine abstract nouns from verbs, with the resulting root structure /ˈmiCCiC/
  2. forms agent nouns from verbs, with the resulting root structure /ˈmaCCaC/ or /mVCˈCiCVw/ if masculine and /maCˈCaːCit/ or /mVCˈCiCwVt/ if feminine
  3. forms instrumental nouns from verbs, with the resulting root structure /ˈmaCCaC/ or /mVCˈCiCVw/ if masculine and /maCˈCaːCit/ or /mVCˈCiCwVt/ if feminine
  4. forms passive nouns from verbs, with the resulting root structure /miˈCuːCiC/ if masculine and /miˈCuCCit/ if feminine
  5. forms nouns from other nouns with no apparent change in meaning, with the resulting root structure unchanged but for the addition of /ma-/ and the loss of final -w in masculine nouns
  6. forms nomina loci from verbs and nouns

Alternative forms

If followed by a labial consonant, this prefix dissimilated to n- in prehistoric times.

Derived terms

Egyptian terms prefixed with m-

References

  • Gundacker, Roman (2011) “On the Etymology of the Egyptian Crown Name mrsw.t*: An “Irregular” Subgroup of m-Prefix Formations” in Lingua Aegyptia, volume 19, page 41–44
  1. ^ Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 1

Kamba

Alternative forms

Prefix

m-

  1. you plural (used for conjugating verbs to the subjective or nominative case of the personal pronoun)

Northern Ndebele

Prefix

m-

  1. him, her, it; class 1 object concord; form of mu- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Old Irish

Prefix

m- (class A infixed pronoun, triggers lenition)

  1. me

Derived terms

Old Irish terms prefixed with m-

See also

Old Irish affixed pronouns

See Appendix:Old Irish affixed pronouns for details on how these forms are used.
Note that the so-called “infixed” pronouns are technically prefixes, but they are never the first prefix in a verbal complex.

Person Infixed Suffixed
Class A Class B Class C
1 sing. m-L dom-L, dam-L -um
2 sing. t-L dot-L, dat-L, dut-L, dit-L -ut
3 sing. m. a-N, e-N d-N id-N, did-N, d-N -i, -it
3 sing. f. s-(N) da- -us
3 sing. n. a-L, e-L d-L id-L, did-L, d-L -i, -it
1 pl. n- don-, dun-, dan- -unn
2 pl. b- dob-, dub-, dab- -uib
3 pl. s-(N) da- -us
L means this form triggers lenition.
N means this form triggers nasalization (eclipsis)
(N) means this form triggers nasalization in some texts but not in others.

Southern Ndebele

Prefix

m-

  1. him, her, it; class 1 object concord; form of mu- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Swahili

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

From Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀-.

Prefix

m- (plural wa-)

  1. m class(I) noun prefix and adjective agreement prefix, denoting mostly people
    mtoto mzuri ― a nice child
    mnyama mnono ― a fat animal
    1. Forms the name of somebody who does something, has a certain characteristic, or is from a certain place.
      ‎m- + ‎Kenya → ‎Mkenya (“person from Kenya”)
      ‎m- + ‎zee (“old”) → ‎mzee (“old person”)

Etymology 2

From Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀-.

Prefix

m- (plural mi-)

  1. m class(III) noun prefix and adjective agreement prefix, denoting mostly plants and inanimate natural things
    mti mrefu ― a tall tree
    mfano mzuri ― a nice example
    1. Forms the name of a plant from its fruit.
      ‎m- + ‎chungwa (“orange”) → ‎mchungwa (“orange tree”)
  2. u class(XI) adjective agreement prefix
    ulimi mrefu ― a long tongue

See also

Etymology 3

From Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀-.

Prefix

m-

  1. you, 2nd person plural subject concord
    Antonym: ham-
  2. verb-initial form of -m- (“her, him; 3rd person singular (m class(I)) object concord”)
See also
Swahili personal pronouns (m-wa class(I/II))
Number Person Independent Subject concord Object concord Combined forms Possessive
affirmative negative na ndi- si-
Singular First mimi ni- si- -ni- nami, na mimi ndimi, ndiye simi, siye -angu
Second wewe u- hu- -ku- nawe, na wewe ndiwe, ndiye siwe, siye -ako
Third yeye a-, yu- ha-, hayu- -m-, -mw-, -mu- naye, na yeye ndiye siye -ake
Plural First sisi tu- hatu- -tu- nasi, na sisi ndisi, ndio sio -etu
Second ninyi m-, mw-, mu- ham-, hamw-, hamu- -wa- nanyi, na ninyi ndinyi, ndio sinyi, sio -enu
Third wao wa- hawa- -wa- nao ndio sio -ao
Reflexive — — -ji- — —
For a full table including other classes, see Appendix:Swahili personal pronouns.

Etymology 4

From Proto-Bantu *mʊ́-.

Prefix

m-

  1. therein, mu class(XVIII) subject concord
    Antonym: ham-
See also
Swahili verbal concords (third person)
Class Subject concord Object concord Relative
affirmative negative
m(I) a-, yu- ha-, hayu- -m-, -mw-, -mu- -ye
wa(II) wa- hawa- -wa- -o
m(III) u- hau- -u- -o
mi(IV) i- hai- -i- -yo
ji(V) li- hali- -li- -lo
ma(VI) ya- haya- -ya- -yo
ki(VII) ki- haki- -ki- -cho
vi(VIII) vi- havi- -vi- -vyo
n(IX) i- hai- -i- -yo
n(X) zi- hazi- -zi- -zo
u(XI) u- hau- -u- -o
ku(XV/XVII) ku- haku- -ku- -ko
pa(XVI) pa- hapa- -pa- -po
mu(XVIII) m-, mw-, mu- ham-, hamw-, hamu- -mu- -mo
For a full table including first and second person, see Appendix:Swahili personal pronouns.

Etymology 5

From Proto-Bantu *ǹ-, labialized before labial consonants.

Prefix

m- (plural m-)

  1. n class(IX/X) noun prefix and adjective agreement prefix, including for plurals of some u class(XI) nouns, used before labial consonants
    mvua mbaya ― bad rain
    ‎ubavu (“rib, side”) → ‎mbavu (“ribs, sides”)

Swazi

Prefix

m-

  1. him, her, it; class 1 object concord; form of mu- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Xhosa

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀-.

Prefix

m-

  1. him, her, it; class 1 object concord.

Ye'kwana

Alternative forms

  • mi- (allomorph before a consonant)

Pronunciation

Prefix

m-

  1. Marks a transitive verb as having a second-person agent/subject.
  2. Marks an intransitive verb with agent-like argument as having a second-person argument/subject.

Usage notes

The form m- is used with stems that start with a vowel; mi- is used with those that start with a consonant, in which case the initial consonant is also palatalized. In practice, since all intransitive verbs to which this prefix can attach start with a vowel, mi- only appears on certain transitive verbs.

Inflection

Ye'kwana personal markers
pronoun noun possessor/
series II verb argument 		postposition object series I verb argument
transitive patient intransitive patient-like intransitive agent-like transitive agent
first person ewü y-, ∅-, ü-, u-1 w-, wi-
first person dual inclusive küwü k-, kü-, ku-, ki- k-, kii-, ki-1
second person amödö ö-, öy-/ödh-, o-, oy-/odh-, a-, ay-/adh- m-, mi-
first person dual exclusive nña y-/dh-, ch-, ∅-, i-1 chö- ∅- n-, ni-
third person tüwü n-, ni-
distant past third person — kün-, kun-, kin-, ken-, küm-, kum-, kim-, kini-
coreferential/reflexive — t-, tü-, tu-, ti-, te- —
reciprocal — — öö-
  1. With following vowel lengthened if in an unreduced open syllable.
series I verb argument:
transitive agent and transitive patient
first person > second person mön-, man-, mon-, möm-, möni-
first person dual exclusive > second person
second person > first person k-, kü-, ku-, ki-
second person > first person dual exclusive
third person > any person X …or… any person X > third person see person X in the chart above

References

  • Cáceres, Natalia (2011) Grammaire Fonctionnelle-Typologique du Ye’kwana‎, Lyon, pages 180–181

Zulu

Etymology 1

Prefix

m-

  1. Class 1 simple noun prefix; form of mu- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Etymology 2

Prefix

ḿ-

  1. him, her, it; class 1 object concord; form of mu- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Etymology 3

Prefix

m-

  1. Class 3 simple noun prefix; form of mu- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Etymology 4

Prefix

m-

  1. Class 9 simple noun prefix; form of n- used before stems beginning with a labial consonant.

References

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia