meu
English
Etymology 1
From Latin mēum (“umbelliferous plant, Meum athamanticum”), from Ancient Greek μῆον (mêon), probably from μεῖον (meîon, “lesser”) for its small size. The English form came perhaps via Middle French meu, a word with a single isolated attestation from the 14th century which only began to appear consistently from 1568, by which time the word was established in English.[1]
Alternative forms
- (rare) mew
Pronunciation
Noun
meu (uncountable)
Translations
References
- Meum athamanticum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Meum athamanticum on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
- Meum athamanticum on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Fon mɛ̀wú (“meu”).
Noun
meu (plural meus)
- (historical) The second minister of the Kingdom of Dahomey.
- Coordinate term: migan
References
- “meu, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
Aromanian
Alternative forms
- a meu
- (a) njeu
Pronoun
meu m (feminine mea or meaea, masculine plural mei, feminine plural meali or meale)
- my; first-person masculine singular possessive pronoun
Usage notes
Always preceded by 'a'- "a meu".
Related terms
- miui
- nju
See also
Catalan
Etymology 1
Inherited from Old Catalan meu, from Latin meum, from Proto-Italic *meos. The feminine form was mia in Old Catalan, but this was extended to meva or meua by analogy with the masculine form. This happened because the -u was not understood as a masculine ending anymore, having been lost in nouns (unlike Spanish, Portuguese and Italian -o).
The weak possessive mon is also from Latin meum, but as an unstressed monosyllabic form.
Usage notes
- When preceding a noun, meu is always preceded by the appropriate definite article.
- el meu gos ― my dog
- Also used after some prepositions:
- dins meu ― inside me
- davant meu ― in front of me
Declension
See also
Etymology 2
Onomatopoeic.
Alternative forms
- mèu (pre-2016 spelling)
Alternative forms
- mèu (pre-2016 spelling)
Further reading
- “meu” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “meu” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Galician
Etymology
Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese meu, from Latin meus.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmew/, /ˈmɛw/
Pronoun
meu m (masculine singular meu, masculine plural meus, feminine singular miña, feminine plural miñas)
Interjection
meu
See also
- Appendix:Galician pronouns
References
- “meu” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
- “meu” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
- “meu” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
- “meu” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
- “meu” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.
Further reading
- “meu”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, since 2012
Ligurian
Etymology
From Ancient Greek μῶλος (môlos), μόλος (mólos), itself from Latin mōlēs.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /møː/
Noun
meu m (invariable)
- jetty, pier, mole
- 1984, “Sidón”, in Fabrizio De André (lyrics), Mauro Pagani (music), Crêuza de mâ [Muletrack by the sea], performed by Fabrizio De André:
- E dòpp'i færi in gôa, i færi da prixón / e 'nte ferîe a seménsa velenóza da deportaçión / perché de nòstro, da-a cianûa a-o meu / no peu ciù crésce ni èrbo, ni spîga, ni figeu
- And after the iron in the throat, the iron of the prison, and the poisonous seed of deportation inside the wounds, because no tree, or spike, or boy of ours is allowed to grow any longer, from the plain to the pier
Old Catalan
Descendants
- Catalan: meu
Old French
Alternative forms
- meü (diaereses not universally used in transcriptions of Old French)
Portuguese
Etymology
From Old Galician-Portuguese meu, from Latin meus, from Proto-Italic *meos.
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /mew/ [meʊ̯]
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /mew/
- Hyphenation: meu
Audio (Brazil - São Paulo) (file)
Determiner
meu (feminine minha, masculine plural meus, feminine plural minhas)
- First-person singular possessive pronoun.
Quotations
For quotations using this term, see Citations:meu.
Pronoun
meu (feminine minha, masculine plural meus, feminine plural minhas)
- mine (belonging to me, pertaining to me, serving me, relating to me, etc.; corresponding to any of the above definitions)
Interjection
meu!
Quotations
For quotations using this term, see Citations:meu.
See also
Possessee | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||||
Masculine | Feminine | Masculine | Feminine | |||
Possessor | Singular | First person | meu | minha | meus | minhas |
Second person | teu | tua | teus | tuas | ||
Third person | seu | sua | seus | suas | ||
Plural | First person | nosso | nossa | nossos | nossas | |
Second person | vosso | vossa | vossos | vossas | ||
Third person | seu | sua | seus | suas | ||
See also: Appendix:Possessive#Portuguese |
Romanian
Alternative forms
- meŭ — old orthography
Etymology
Inherited from Latin meus, from Proto-Italic *meos.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mew/
Audio (file)
Determiner
meu m or n (feminine singular mea, masculine plural mei, feminine and neuter plural mele)
Declension
Sardinian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmeu/
Sassarese
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmeu/
Determiner
meu (feminine singular mea, plural mei)
- Alternative form of méiu
- 1989, Giovanni Maria Cherchi, “Turrendi a bidda mea [Going back to my town]”, in La poesia di l'althri (overall work in Italian and Sassarese), Sassari: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, page 89:
- E canti volthi, o bidda mea natiba,
soggu giuntu a zirchà
da te li cosi mei chi v’aggiu pessu- And how many times, o native town of mine, have I come to you looking for the things that I have lost here
References
- Rubattu, Antoninu (2006) Dizionario universale della lingua di Sardegna, 2nd edition, Sassari: Edes
Zou
Etymology
Onomatopoeic. Compare Khumi Chin mibawi and Chinese 貓/猫 (māo).
References
- Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 65