mali

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English

Etymology 1

Malis (etymology 1) or gardeners shifting seedlings from nursery beds into polybags at the Aravali Biodiversity Park, Gurgaon, Haryana, India.

Borrowed from Hindi माली (mālī, gardener), from Sanskrit माली (mālī, wreath-maker, garland-maker; florist; gardener), मालिन् (mālin, florist; gardener), from माला (mālā, wreath, garland; chaplet, crown).[1][2]

Pronunciation

Noun

mali (plural malis)

  1. (India, South Asia) A member of a caste in South Asia whose traditional occupation is gardening; hence, any South Asian gardener.
    • 1840, G. T. Frederic Speede, Indian Hand-book of Gardening; Containing Directions for the Management of the Kitchen and Flower Garden, etc. etc. in India: , Calcutta: W. Thacker & Co. St. Andrew's Library, →OCLC, page 1:
      [H]ence the slow progress hitherto made in the cultivation of such produce of the garden as is generally held in estimation by the European portion of the community, left as it generally is, to the simple Hindoo mallee (or gardener,) it is not to be wondered at, that our bazars want what are deemed the more delicate articles of vegetable production for the table; []
    • 1848, “Report of Exhibitions of Vegetables, Fruits, Flowers and Agricultural Produce, Held at Bhaugulpore, on 11th February and 25th May, 1848. (Communicated by Major Napleton, Honorary Secretary Branch Agri-Horticultural Society.)”, in Journal of the Agricultural & Horticultural Society of India, volumes VI, part II (Correspondence and Selections), number 3, Calcutta: Bishop's College Press, →OCLC, page 125:
      Prizes were awarded to ten other mallees for best samples of vegetables, fruits and flowers, and last though not least we have to note, that a prize of two rupees was awarded to the mallee of Robert Fulton, Esq., of Sultangunge, for a remarkably fine bunch of grapes, clearly showing that either the soil of Mr. Fulton's garden, the climate of Sultangunge, or the skill of that gentleman's gardener, are highly favorable to the growth, and bringing to maturity of this delicious fruit.
    • 1871 November 29, “Cachar: Further Correspondence on the Subject of the Looshai Raids and the Consequent Hostilities (in Continuation of Paper, No. 398, of 1871)”, in Accounts and Papers: , volumes X (East India—continued), : The House of Commons, , published 28 May 1872, →OCLC, page 301:
      I sent down dhobies, sweepers, cooks, and mallees, last to dig trenches for burying the dead, when burning was not possible.
    • 1924 June 4, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter XXII, in A Passage to India, London: Edward Arnold & Co., →OCLC, part II (Caves), page 203:
      He found, as he expected, that the poor girl was crying. And, as always, an Indian close outside the window, a mali in this case, picking up sounds.
    • 1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC; republished as chapter 2, in Burmese Days (ebook no. 0200051h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, November 2015:
      A nearly naked mali, watering-can in hand, was moving in the jungle of flowers like some large nectar-sucking bird.
    • 2008, Amitav Ghosh, chapter 5, in Sea of Poppies, London: John Murray, →ISBN, pages 91–92:
      The grounds of the estates were extensive enough to provide each mansion with a surrounding park, and these were, if anything, even more varied in design than the houses they enclosed – for the malis who tended the gardens, no less than the owners themselves, vied to outdo each other in the fancifulness of their plantings, creating here a little patch of topiary and there an avenue of trees, trimmed in the French fashion; []
Alternative forms
Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Xhosa imali, Zulu imali (money), both ultimately from Swahili mali (riches, wealth; property), from Arabic مَال (māl, money; affluence, wealth; possessions, property).[3] Some dictionaries[4] suggest an origin in English money instead, making no attempt to account for the distribution of the loanword nor the proposed shift from /n/ to /l/, both of which make this unlikely.

Pronunciation

Noun

mali (uncountable)

  1. (South Africa) Money, cash.
Translations

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin malī, a plural form of malus (adverse, unfavourable, unfortunate, unlucky; destructive, hurtful; bad, evil) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (erroneous, false; bad, evil)).

Pronunciation

Noun

mali

  1. plural of malus
    • c. 1997, ASTIN Bulletin, page 48:
      The existence of boni and mali for the different risks can be interpreted through the sign of estimated covariances.
    • 2000, Jean Pinquet, “Experience Rating through Heterogeneous Models”, in Georges Dionne, editor, Handbook of Insurance, Kluwer Academic Publishers, page 462:
      If the boni and mali do not depend on the frequency of claims, the average bonus-malus coefficient increases with the frequency.
    • 2014, Akmal Akramkhanov, Bernhard Tischbein, Usman Khalid Awan, “Effective management of soil salinity – revising leaching norms”, in John P. A. Lamers, Asia Khamzina, Inna Rudenko, Paul L. G. Vlek, editors, Restructuring Land Allocation, Water Use and Agricultural Value Chains: Technologies, Policies and Practices for the Lower Amudarya Region, V & R unipress, Bonn University Press, →ISBN, page 131:
      Akramkhanov et al. (2010) also suggested a system of boni and mali on taxes to support the implementation of measures to achieve both water saving and salinity control (Table 3.3.1).

References

  1. ^ Monier Williams (1872) “माऌ māla”, in A Sanskṛit–English Dictionary: , Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 774, columns 2–3.
  2. ^ mali, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2020; mali1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ Baldi, Sergio (2020 November 30) Dictionary of Arabic Loanwords in the Languages of Central and East Africa (Handbuch der Orientalistik; Erste Abteilung: Der Nahe und der Mittlere Osten; 145), Leiden • Boston: Brill, →ISBN
  4. ^ For example, mali, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2021.

See also

Anagrams

Acehnese

Pronunciation

Adjective

mali

  1. draw; something that’s equal or in balance of each other.

Albanian

Pronunciation

Noun

mali

  1. inflection of mal:
    1. definite nominative singular
    2. indefinite dative/ablative singular

Amis

Noun

mali

  1. ball

References

Bunun

Noun

mali

  1. ball

Dyirbal

Adjective

mali

  1. wonderful, fantastic

Dyula

Alternative forms

Noun

mali

  1. hippopotamus

Finnish

Etymology

From Swedish malört.

Pronunciation

Noun

mali

  1. wormwood (Artemisia absinthium)

Declension

Inflection of mali (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative mali malit
genitive malin malien
partitive malia maleja
illative maliin maleihin
singular plural
nominative mali malit
accusative nom. mali malit
gen. malin
genitive malin malien
partitive malia maleja
inessive malissa maleissa
elative malista maleista
illative maliin maleihin
adessive malilla maleilla
ablative malilta maleilta
allative malille maleille
essive malina maleina
translative maliksi maleiksi
abessive malitta maleitta
instructive malein
comitative See the possessive forms below.
Possessive forms of mali (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
first-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative malini malini
accusative nom. malini malini
gen. malini
genitive malini malieni
partitive maliani malejani
inessive malissani maleissani
elative malistani maleistani
illative maliini maleihini
adessive malillani maleillani
ablative maliltani maleiltani
allative malilleni maleilleni
essive malinani maleinani
translative malikseni maleikseni
abessive malittani maleittani
instructive
comitative maleineni
second-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative malisi malisi
accusative nom. malisi malisi
gen. malisi
genitive malisi maliesi
partitive maliasi malejasi
inessive malissasi maleissasi
elative malistasi maleistasi
illative maliisi maleihisi
adessive malillasi maleillasi
ablative maliltasi maleiltasi
allative malillesi maleillesi
essive malinasi maleinasi
translative maliksesi maleiksesi
abessive malittasi maleittasi
instructive
comitative maleinesi
first-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative malimme malimme
accusative nom. malimme malimme
gen. malimme
genitive malimme maliemme
partitive maliamme malejamme
inessive malissamme maleissamme
elative malistamme maleistamme
illative maliimme maleihimme
adessive malillamme maleillamme
ablative maliltamme maleiltamme
allative malillemme maleillemme
essive malinamme maleinamme
translative maliksemme maleiksemme
abessive malittamme maleittamme
instructive
comitative maleinemme
second-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative malinne malinne
accusative nom. malinne malinne
gen. malinne
genitive malinne malienne
partitive malianne malejanne
inessive malissanne maleissanne
elative malistanne maleistanne
illative maliinne maleihinne
adessive malillanne maleillanne
ablative maliltanne maleiltanne
allative malillenne maleillenne
essive malinanne maleinanne
translative maliksenne maleiksenne
abessive malittanne maleittanne
instructive
comitative maleinenne

Synonyms

Further reading

Anagrams

French

Noun

mali m (uncountable)

  1. Mali (language)

References

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈma.li/
  • Rhymes: -ali
  • Hyphenation: mà‧li

Noun

mali m

  1. plural of male

Anagrams

Jingpho

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-ləj (four). Cognate with Burmese လေး (le:), S'gaw Karen လွံၢ် (lwee̱), Nuosu (ly), Tibetan བཞི (bzhi), Sikkimese ཞི (zhi).

Numeral

mali

  1. four

Kambera

Alternative forms

Noun

mali

  1. tonight
  2. late afternoon

References

  • Marian Klamer (1998) A Grammar of Kambera, Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 213

Kavalan

Noun

mali

  1. ball

Latin

Adjective

malī

  1. inflection of malus:
    1. nominative/vocative plural
    2. genitive singular

Noun

mālī

  1. inflection of mālus:
    1. nominative/vocative plural
    2. genitive singular

Latvian

Verb

mali

  1. second-person singular past indicative of malt

Lubuagan Kalinga

Noun

mali

  1. peanut

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /²mɑː.lɪ/, /²mɑː.ɽɪ/

Participle

mali

  1. (non-standard since 2012) feminine singular of malen
  2. (non-standard since 2012) neuter singular of malen

Verb

mali

  1. (non-standard since 2012) supine of mala

Anagrams

Polish

Pronunciation

 

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

mali

  1. (Near Masovian, often repeated) used to call pigs
    Synonym: maciu
    Coordinate terms: a ksyk, a ciu

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

mali

  1. virile nominative/vocative plural of mały

Further reading

  • Władysław Matlakowski (1891) “mali”, in “Zbiór wyrazów ludowych dawnej ziemi czerskiej”, in Sprawozdania Komisyi Językowej Akademii Umiejętności, volume 4, Krakow: Drukarnia Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, page 372

Sakizaya

Pronunciation

Noun

mali

  1. ball

Sardinian

Etymology

From Latin male. Compare Italian male.

Adverb

mali

  1. (Campidanese) badly

Serbo-Croatian

Adjective

mali

  1. inflection of mal:
    1. masculine nominative/vocative plural
    2. definite masculine nominative/vocative singular
    3. definite inanimate masculine accusative singular

Sicilian

Etymology

From Latin malus. Compare Italian mali, male.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈma.li/
  • Hyphenation: mà‧li

Adjective

mali m pl or f pl

  1. masculine plural of malu; bad.
  2. feminine plural of malu

Inflection

Masculine Feminine
Singular malu mala
Plural mali mali

Noun

mali m (plural mali)

  1. evil, harm

Slovak

Pronunciation

Participle

mali

  1. plural l-participle of mať

Swahili

Swahili Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sw

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic مَال (māl, property).

Pronunciation

Noun

mali class VI (plural only)

  1. wealth, riches
  2. property

Usage notes

This word is morphologically plural but semantically singular. If a plural sense is required, it may be put in the n class.

Descendants

  • Ila: madi
  • Northern Ndebele: imali
  • Rwanda-Rundi: imari
  • Shona: mari
  • Tswana: madi
  • Xhosa: imali
  • Zulu: imali

Tagalog

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Adjective

malî (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜎᜒ)

  1. wrong
    Synonym: lihis
    Antonyms: tama, wasto
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Compare Malay mali (Leea indica) and Malay mali-mali (Leea angulata).

Pronunciation

Noun

mali (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜎᜒ) (botany)

  1. bandicoot berry (Leea indica)

Anagrams

Turkish

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish مالی (mali), from Arabic مَالِيّ (māliyy).

Adjective

mali

  1. financial, fiscal

Derived terms

References

Woiwurrung

Noun

mali

  1. mallee