mah

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See also: Mah, mäh, mah-, and mAh

Translingual

Symbol

mah

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Marshallese.

English

Etymology 1

Determiner

mah

  1. (African-American Vernacular, Southern US) Pronunciation spelling of my.

Etymology 2

From Cantonese 嘛 (maa3).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Particle

mah (Manglish, Singlish)

  1. Asserts that there is a straightforward or self-evident reason for something.
    Synonym: (Singlish) what (sense 2)
    — The plants are all dying already.
    — No one here to water them mah...
    • 2003, ANGELL, “SIA PILOT ISSUE”, in soc.culture.singapore‎ (Usenet):
      Alternatively train SBS bus drivers to become pilots also since they are already bus captains. Anyone can become a pilot mah. Its so easy. Everybody should give it try-but not with me on board.
    • 2014, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, Singapore Noir, Akashic Books, →ISBN, page 89:
      Especially today—we holiday, mah, so don’t bring them to town until tomorrow.
    • 2018 July 13, Shaun Tan, quoting Kurt Tay, “Does Someone Like Kurt Tay Deserve To Be A Father?”, in ricemedia.co‎, archived from the original on 9 August 2024:
      In response, I ask if he thinks that his future child would be embarrassed about the online reputation that he has built for himself after all these years. “Why? All of this is just acting mah, I got nothing to be ashamed about.”
    • 2024 March 28, Benjamin Tan, quoting Ursula Soh, “In Their Own Skin: Portraits of Eczema in Singapore”, in ricemedia.co‎, archived from the original on 26 November 2024:
      If I’m running around for errands, I want to look cute also mah. I used to wear shorts, but now I’d rather not. It’ll look like I’ve got thousands of cat scratches.

See also

Discourse particles in colloquial Singaporean and Malaysian English
⟵ More assertiveLess assertive ⟶
Expressing objection what Characterizing one1–3 Expressing inevitability lor2–3 Expressing resignation lor1 Expressing uncertainty leh1–2
Explanatory mah Assertive lah1–14 Intensifying sia Agreement-seeking hor2 Confirmation-seeking ah1–3, hah1–3
Expressing skepticism meh Declarative leh3–6, hor1, know, nia Speculative ba2 Conveying tentativeness leh7–11, ba1
Non-pragmatic
Aspect-marking liao, already
References
  • Gupta, A. F. (1992) “The pragmatic particles of Singapore colloquial English”, in Journal of Pragmatics, volume 18, number 1, →DOI

References

  • Low, Ee Ling, Brown, Adam (2005) English in Singapore: An Introduction, →ISBN
  • Lim, Lisa with Wee, Lionel (2004) “Reduplication and discourse particles”, in Singapore English: A grammatical description, →ISBN, page 125

Etymology 3

From Mandarin 嗎／吗 (ma) or Cantonese 嗎／吗 (maa5).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Particle

mah (Manglish, Singlish)

  1. (colloquial, Chinese Malaysian and Singaporean) Used at the end of an affirmative declarative sentence to change it into a yes–no question.
    • 2024 December 8, endlssorrow, “U guys bring smart watch oversea mah”, in HardwareZone Forums‎:
      Coz must charge daily lei

Anagrams

Bavarian

Etymology

Possibly from the possessive pronoun mei.

Pronunciation

Interjection

mah

  1. (chiefly East Central Bavarian) Used to express surprise, shock or amazement.
    Mah, der håd me gschreckt! ― Damn, he gave me a fright!
    Mah, schmeckt des guad! ― Blimey, this is delicious!

Besisi

Etymology

From Proto-Aslian *səmaaʔ (“human”).

Noun

mah

  1. human
  2. people

Derived terms

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch maag.

Noun

mah (plural mah-mah)

  1. stomach

Italian

Pronunciation

Interjection

mah

  1. an expression of doubt or uncertainty
  2. an expression of disapproval or resignation

References

  1. ^ mah in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Anagrams

Old English

Pronunciation

Verb

māh

  1. first/third-person singular preterite indicative of mīgan

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *maxъ, from Proto-Slavic *maxati.

Pronunciation

Noun

mȃh m inan (Cyrillic spelling ма̑х)

  1. swing, wave, sweep (motion)
  2. moment, instant
    Synonyms: čȁs, trȅn
    U taj mah. ― At that instant.

Declension

Declension of mah
singular plural
nominative mȃh máhovi
genitive mȃha máhōvā
dative mȃhu máhovima
accusative mȃh máhove
vocative mȃše máhovi
locative mȃhu máhovima
instrumental mȃhom máhovima

References

  • “mah”, in Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

Slovene

Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sl

Etymology 1

From Proto-Slavic *mъxъ.

Pronunciation

Noun

mȃh m inan

  1. moss (plants of the division Bryophyta)
    Synonyms: mahovina, mahovje, meh
  2. (geography) raised bog
  3. (regional) bog, marsh
    Synonyms: barje, morost
  4. (hunting) velvet (fine fur on a deer's antlers)
  5. (rare) down, fluff
    Synonyms: puh, puhec, puhek
Declension
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First masculine declension (hard o-stem, inanimate, -ov- infix) , long mixed accent, ending -u in genitive singular
nom. sing. mȃh
gen. sing. mahȗ
singular dual plural
nominative
imenovȃlnik 		mȃh mahȏva mahȏvi
genitive
rodȋlnik 		mahȗ mahóv mahóv
dative
dajȃlnik 		mȃhu, mȃhi mahȏvoma, mahȏvama mahȏvom, mȃhȏvam
accusative
tožȋlnik 		mȃh mahȏva mahȏve
locative
mẹ̑stnik 		mȃhu, mȃhi mahȏvih mahȏvih
instrumental
orọ̑dnik 		mȃhom mahȏvoma, mahȏvama mahȏvi
(vocative)
(ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik) 		mȃh mahȏva mahȏvi



  • in singular also
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First masculine declension (hard o-stem, inanimate) , fixed accent
nom. sing. mȃh
gen. sing. mȃha
singular dual plural
nominative
imenovȃlnik 		mȃh – –
genitive
rodȋlnik 		mȃha – –
dative
dajȃlnik 		mȃhu, mȃhi – –
accusative
tožȋlnik 		mȃh – –
locative
mẹ̑stnik 		mȃhu, mȃhi – –
instrumental
orọ̑dnik 		mȃhom – –
(vocative)
(ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik) 		mȃh – –


Derived terms

Etymology 2

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *maxъ.

Pronunciation

Noun

mȁh or mȃh m inan

  1. gerund of máhniti
  2. (obsolete) growth, development
    Synonyms: razmah, razmahnitev, omah, polet, procvit, razcvet, razvetje, razcvit, razrast, vzmah, zamah
  3. (archaic) time (an instance or occurrence)
  4. (obsolete) moment, instant
    Synonyms: trenutek, hip, moment, tren, trenutje
Declension
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First masculine declension (hard o-stem, inanimate) , fixed accent
nom. sing. mȁh
gen. sing. máha
singular dual plural
nominative
imenovȃlnik 		mȁh máha máhi
genitive
rodȋlnik 		máha māhov māhov
dative
dajȃlnik 		máhu, máhi máhoma, máhama máhom, máham
accusative
tožȋlnik 		mȁh máha máhe
locative
mẹ̑stnik 		máhu, máhi māhih, māhah māhih, māhah
instrumental
orọ̑dnik 		máhom máhoma, máhama māhi
(vocative)
(ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik) 		mȁh mȃha mȃhi


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First masculine declension (hard o-stem, inanimate) , fixed accent
nom. sing. mȃh
gen. sing. mȃha
singular dual plural
nominative
imenovȃlnik 		mȃh mȃha mȃhi
genitive
rodȋlnik 		mȃha mȃhov mȃhov
dative
dajȃlnik 		mȃhu, mȃhi mȃhoma, mȃhama mȃhom, mȃham
accusative
tožȋlnik 		mȃh mȃha mȃhe
locative
mẹ̑stnik 		mȃhu, mȃhi mȃhih, mȃhah mȃhih, mȃhah
instrumental
orọ̑dnik 		mȃhom mȃhoma, mȃhama mȃhi
(vocative)
(ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik) 		mȃh mȃha mȃhi


Derived terms

Etymology 3

Borrowed from English Mach.

Pronunciation

Noun

mȃh m inan

  1. (physics) Mach (ratio of the speed)
    Synonym: mach
Declension
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First masculine declension (hard o-stem, inanimate) , fixed accent
nom. sing. mȃh
gen. sing. mȃha
singular dual plural
nominative
imenovȃlnik 		mȃh mȃha mȃhi
genitive
rodȋlnik 		mȃha mȃhov mȃhov
dative
dajȃlnik 		mȃhu, mȃhi mȃhoma, mȃhama mȃhom, mȃham
accusative
tožȋlnik 		mȃh mȃha mȃhe
locative
mẹ̑stnik 		mȃhu, mȃhi mȃhih, mȃhah mȃhih, mȃhah
instrumental
orọ̑dnik 		mȃhom mȃhoma, mȃhama mȃhi
(vocative)
(ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik) 		mȃh mȃha mȃhi


Etymology 4

Might be from German gemach (“slowly, easy”), from Old High German gimah (“calm, comfortable”). Compare with more common version gmȃh.

Pronunciation

Noun

mȃh m inan

  1. (obsolete, rare) peace, quietness
    Synonyms: mir, tišina, gmah, pokoj, spokoj, blaženi mir, idilični mir, mirnst, molk, nebeški mir, nemota, pokojnost, spokojnost, sveti mir
    Antonyms: hrup, hrum, hrušč, hrumot, hrupot, rumel, šunder, tumult
Declension
First masculine declension (hard o-stem, inanimate) , fixed accent (singularia tantum)
nom. sing. mȃh
gen. sing. mȃha
singular
nominative
imenovȃlnik 		mȃh
genitive
rodȋlnik 		mȃha
dative
dajȃlnik 		mȃhu, mȃhi
accusative
tožȋlnik 		mȃh
locative
mẹ̑stnik 		mȃhu, mȃhi
instrumental
orọ̑dnik 		mȃhom
(vocative)
(ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik) 		mȃh


Interjection

mȃh

  1. (obsolete, rare) quiet, shut up
    Synonyms: tiho, tišina, mir, gmah

See also

Further reading

  • “mah”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
  • “mah”, in Termania, Amebis
  • See also the general references

Sumerian

Romanization

mah

  1. romanization of 𒈤 (maḫ)

Sundanese

Etymology

Inherited from Old Sundanese ma (“marker of emphasis”)

Particle

mah

  1. unique marker of emphasis, often untranslatable
    Abdi mah asalna ti Ciamis.
    I am from Ciamis.
    Kamari mah abdi ka Singapur.
    Yesterday, I went to Singapore.
    Poé ieu mah jigana bakal hujan.
    It looks like it will rain today. (literally, "As for today, it looks like it will rain".)

Usage notes

  • Note that mah has no direct counterpart in both English and Indonesian. Mah is used as a focus marker to introduce a new information within a conversation or compare existing information.

References

  1. ^ Aditia Gunawan, Evi Fuji Fauziyah (2021) “The particle ma in Old Sundanese”, in Wacana Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia, volume 22, number 1, pages 207-223
  2. ^ Deanty Rumandang Bulan (2018) “Sundanese emphasis particles téh, téa, and mah”, in Metamorfosis (in Indonesian), volume 11, number 1, pages 10–14

Unami

Particle

mah

  1. past tense marker
    Lòkëwe mah utènink nta.
    Yesterday, I went to town.

References

  • Rementer, Jim with Pearson, Bruce L. (2005) “mah”, in Leneaux, Grant, Whritenour, Raymond, editors, The Lenape Talking Dictionary, The Lenape Language Preservation Project
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