mẹ

See also: Appendix:Variations of "me"

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *meːʔ ~ *mɛːʔ, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *meeʔ ~ *ʔmeeʔ (“mother”); cognate with Bahnar mĕ, Khmer ម៉ែ (mae), Mon မိ (mìˀ), Khasi mei. Ultimately a nursery word, compare Old Chinese 母 (*mɯʔ) and Proto-Tai *meːᴮ (whence Thai แม่ (mɛ̂ɛ)). Related to mái.

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [mɛ˧˨ʔ]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [mɛ˨˩ʔ]
(Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [mɛ˨˩˨]
Audio (Hồ Chí Minh City) (file)

Noun

mẹ • (美, 母, 媄, 姆, 󰀱)

a mother
Synonyms: u, mợ, mạ, má, bầm, mệ, nạ

Pronoun

mẹ

I/me, your mother
you, my mother
(ironic) you, a female who I think is being stupid

Interjection

mẹ

Short for địt mẹ (“fuck”).
(địt con) mẹ mày
fuck you

Further reading

"mẹ" in Hồ Ngọc Đức, Free Vietnamese Dictionary Project (details)

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