# mā
## Ashkun
### Etymology

From Common Nuristani *māi, probably an early borrowing of Middle Chinese 米 (mei$^X$). Compare Tregami myä, Waigali mä, Kamkata-viri mo.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmaː/

### Noun

mā (Sanu)
* husked rice

### References

* ↑ Strand, Richard F. (2016) “m′âː”, in Nûristânî Etymological Lexicon‎

## Hokkien

* For pronunciation and definitions of mā – see 嘛 (“also”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 嘛).

## Japanese
### Romanization

mā
* Rōmaji transcription of まあ

## Mandarin
### Alternative forms

* ma — nonstandard

### Romanization

mā (ma$^1$, Zhuyin ㄇㄚ)
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 媽／妈
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 嬤／嬷
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 孑
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 抵
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 摨
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 擳／𰓜
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 虿
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 蚂
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 麵／面
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 抹

## Maori
### Etymology 1

Contraction of marama.

#### Noun

mā
* (colour/color) white

#### See also

* tea
Colors in Maori · ngā tae (layout · text) :
| mā, tea | kiwikiwi | pango |
| whero, mea, kura | karaka; parauri | kōwhai, renga |
| | kākāriki | kārikiuri |
| | kikorangi | kahurangi |
| tūāuri | waiporoporo | māwhero |

### Etymology 2
#### Particle

mā
* for (representing future possession)
    Mā Mū tēnei pukapuka. ― This book is for Mū.
* by, made by, acted on (combined with e to indicate future tense for who will perform an action)
    Mā tōku matua koe e whakahoki. ― My father will take you back.
* (used with hei to show a relationship)
    Hei irāmutu a Aroha mā Hēni. ― Aroha is Jane's niece.
* by way of; via; through
    Ka haere rātou mā Taupō. ― They'll go via Taupō.
* by means of; on (followed by runga)
    Haere ai tō mātau pāpā ki tana mahi mā runga hōiho. ― Our father went to his work by horseback.
* (used in names to represent the points of a compass)
    marangai mā tonga ― southeasterly wind

### References

* ↑ Stack, James W. (1879) “Notes on the Colour Sense of the Maori”, in Transactions and the Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand‎, volume 12, number 2, Royal Society of New Zealand, pages 153–158
* “mā” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.

## Marshallese
### Pronunciation

* (phonetic) IPA: [mʲæ]
* (phonemic) IPA: /mʲæj/
* Bender phonemes: {may}

### Noun

mā
* breadfruit.

### References

* Marshallese–English Online Dictionary

## Namuyi
### Etymology

Probably from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r/g/s-pʷa. Cognate to Burmese ဝါး (wa:).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ma˨˨˦]

### Noun

mā
* bamboo

## Pali
### Alternative forms

* 𑀫𑀸 (Brahmi script)
* मा (Devanagari script)
* মা (Bengali script)
* මා (Sinhalese script)
* မာ or မႃ (Burmese script)
* มา (Thai script)
* ᨾᩣ (Tai Tham script)
* ມາ (Lao script)
* មា (Khmer script)
* 𑄟𑄂 (Chakma script)

### Etymology 1

Inherited from Sanskrit मा (mā, “do not”).

#### Particle

mā
* (prohibitive) do not

### Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

#### Noun

mā f
* mother
* moon

## Samoan
### Pronoun

mā
* First person dual exclusive
    we (he/she and I, but not you)

#### See also
## Tocharian B
### Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *meh₁ (prohibitive particle). Cognate with Sanskrit मा (mā), Avestan 𐬨𐬁 (mā), Ancient Greek μή (mḗ), Albanian mo, Old Armenian մի (mi), Old Persian 𐎶𐎠 (m-a /⁠mā⁠/), Persian مـ (ma-).

### Particle

mā
* no, not
* (before an adjective) un-, in-

## Tokelauan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈmaː]
* Hyphenation: mā

### Etymology 1

From Proto-Polynesian *maqa.

#### Noun

mā
* (to a male) brother-in-law (one's sister's husband)
* (to a male) cousin-in-law (one's cousin's husband)

### Etymology 2

From Proto-Polynesian *ma. Cognates include Tuvaluan maa and Samoan mā.

#### Noun

mā
* shame
* embarrassment

#### Verb

mā (plural mamā)
* (stative) to be ashamed
* (stative) to be embarrassed

### Etymology 3

From Proto-Polynesian *maqa. Cognates include Maori mā and Samoan mā.

#### Preposition

mā
* Marks the intent of an alianably possessed object; for, about

##### See also

* mō

### Etymology 4

From Proto-Polynesian *ma. Cognates include Tuvaluan maa and Samoan mā.

#### Pronoun

mā
* we two (exclusive)

##### See also
### Etymology 5
#### Verb

mā
* (transitive) to presume, assume, think

### Etymology 6

Borrowed from Samoan ma'a.

#### Noun

mā
* object made of stone

### References

* R. Simona, editor (1986), Tokelau Dictionary‎, Auckland: Office of Tokelau Affairs, page 198

## Tongan
### Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *mara (“to spoil, to go foul [of food]” – compare with Maori mara “food preserved by steeping in water”, Samoan mala “soft [of food]” and Fijian mara “stench of a corpse”). For sense of bread, compare with Fijian madrai for similar semantic evolution.

### Noun

mā
* preserve of fermented breadfruit, bananas or plantain stored in pits prior
** grain-based bread introduced by Westerners

### References

* ↑ Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), “mara”, in POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online
* ↑ Ross, Malcolm D., Pawley, Andrew, Osmond, Meredith (1998) The lexicon of Proto-Oceanic, volume 1: Material Culture, Canberra: Australian National University, →ISBN, pages 158-9
* ↑ Pollock, Nancy (1984) “Breadfruit Fermentation Practices in Oceania”, in Journal de la Société des Océanistes‎, volume 40, number 79, →DOI, pages 157, 164