m-

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

• h-

 

Derived terms

Translingual terms prefixed with m-

English

Prefix

m-

1. (organic chemistry) meta-

See also

• o-
• p-

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).

Pronunciation

 

• (reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ma-/, /mi-/, /mV-/

• (Old Egyptian, c. 2500 BCE) IPA^(key): /ma-/, /mi-/, /mV-/

  where V represents an unknown short vowel.

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /mɛ/
  • Conventional anglicization: me-

Prefix

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

Kamba

Alternative forms

• mu-

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

• (etymologies 1 to 4) mu-, mw-
• (etymology 5) n-, ny-

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

• Appendix:Swahili noun classes

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 *n-, 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

• IPA^(key): [m-]

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-/öd-, o-, oy-/od-, a-, ay-/ad-							m-, mi-
first person dual exclusive	nña	y-/d-, 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-
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^[1], 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

• C. M. Doke, B. W. Vilakazi (1972) “m-”, in Zulu-English Dictionary, →ISBN: “m-”