# ماء
## Arabic
### Etymology 1

From Proto-Semitic *māy-, from Proto-Afroasiatic *maʔ-, reanalyzed in the plural as if from root م و ه (m w h), whence the verbal derivative مَاهَ (māha), which is alternatively conjugated as deriving from م ي ه (m y h). Cognate with Hebrew מים (máyim).

#### Alternative forms

* مَاه (māh), مَي (may) — poetic or dialectal

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /maːʔ/

#### Noun

مَاء • (māʔ) m (dual مَاءَان (māʔān) or مَاوَان (māwān) or مَايَان (māyān), plural مِيَاه (miyāh) or أَمْوَاه (ʔamwāh) or أَمْوَاء (ʔamwāʔ))
* (usually uncountable) water
* liquid, fluid
** the liquefied or molten form of a metal (usually gold, silver, or copper)
** (dated, sometimes euphemistic, of humans or animals) conceptive fluid; ejaculation
    Synonym: مَنِيّ (maniyy)
*** 7th century CE, (Please provide the book title or journal name):قَالَ: اللَّٰهُمَّ ٱشْهَدْ عَلَيْهِمْ، فَأَنْشُدُكُمْ بِاللهِ ٱلَّذِي لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ، ٱلَّذِي أَنْزَلَ ٱلتَّوْرَاةَ عَلَى مُوسَى، هَلْ تَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّ مَاءَ ٱلرَّجُلِِ أَبْيَضُ غَلِيظٌ، وَأَنَّ مَاءَ ٱلْمَرْأَةِ أَصْفَرُ رَقِيقٌ، فَأَيُّهُمَا عَلَا كَانَ لَهُ ٱلْوَلَدُ وَٱلشَّبَهُ بِإِذْنِ اللهِ؟ إِنْ عَلَا مَاءُ ٱلرَّجُلِ عَلَى مَاءِ ٱلْمَرْأَةِ كَانَ ذَكَرًا بِإِذْنِ اللهِ، وَإِنْ عَلَا مَاءُ ٱلْمَرْأةِ عَلَى مَاءِ ٱلرَّجُلِ كَانَ أُنْثَى بِإِذْنِ اللهِ؟، قَالُوا: ٱللَّٰهُمَّ نَعَمْqāla: allāhumma šhad ʕalayhim, faʔanšudukum bi-l-lāhi llaḏī lā ʔilāha ʔillā huwa, llaḏī ʔanzala t-tawrāta ʕalā mūsā, hal taʕlamūna ʔanna māʔa r-rajulii ʔabyaḍu ḡalīẓun, waʔanna māʔa l-marʔati ʔaṣfaru raqīqun, faʔayyuhumā ʕalā kāna lahu l-waladu waš-šabahu biʔiḏni llāhi? ʔin ʕalā māʔu r-rajuli ʕalā māʔi l-marʔati kāna ḏakaran biʔiḏni llāhi, waʔin ʕalā māʔu l-marʔati ʕalā māʔi r-rajuli kāna ʔunṯā biʔiḏni llāhi?, qālū: llāhumma naʕam[Then] he [the Prophet] said, “O Allah, bear witness to what they say! By Allah, who is the only god and who revealed the Torah to Moses, do you not know that the fluid of men is white and thick and that of women is yellow and thin? The gender and the looks of the offspring are determined by [literally "belong to"] whichever of them rises [or predominates]: if the fluid of the man rises above [or overpowers] the woman's, the child becomes a male if Allah wills it, and if the fluid of the woman rises above [or overpowers] the man's, the child becomes a female if Allah wills it. [Do you not already know this?]" [Thus,] they [the Jews] said, "By Allah, yes.”

##### Usage notes

* All the alternative forms are either chiefly poetic or dialectal. The dual forms are also almost never used. Conversely, the plural form مِيَاه (miyāh) is fairly common.
* In the sense “ejaculation”, the word, as well as مَنِيّ (maniyy), may be used freely to refer to humans and animals. Medieval Arabic sources typically do not lexically distinguish between male and female ejaculation as both are conceived as determining factors in conception in a manner analogous to, albeit different from, Aristotle's inheritance model. Modern sources, however, typically emphasize a distinction between the two, thus limiting the use of مَنِيّ (maniyy) to male ejaculation.

##### Derived terms

* مَاء وَرْد (māʔ ward)
* مَاوِيّ (māwiyy, “aquatic”)
* مَائِيّ (māʔiyy, “aquatic”)

##### Related terms

* مُوَيْه (muwayh, “little water”)
* مَاءَة (māʔa), مَاهَة (māha), مَاة (māh)

##### Descendants

* Algerian Arabic: ما (mā)
* Andalusian Arabic: ما (mā)
* Baharna Arabic: مي (me)
* Chadian Arabic: المي (almi)
* Egyptian Arabic: مية (máyya)
* Gulf Arabic: ماي (māy)
* Hassaniya Arabic: ما (ma)
* Hijazi Arabic: موية (mōya)
* Iraqi Arabic: ماي (māy)
* Juba Arabic: moya
* Nubi: moyo
* Libyan Arabic: مي (me)
* Maltese: ilma
* Moroccan Arabic: ما (mā)
* North Levantine Arabic: مَي (may)
* South Levantine Arabic: مي (ṃayy)
* Sudanese Arabic: موية (mōya)

#### References

* Wehr, Hans (1979) “موه”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

### Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /maː.ʔa/

#### Verb

مَاءَ • (māʔa) I (non-past يَمُوءُ (yamūʔu), verbal noun مُوَاء (muwāʔ) or مَوْء (mawʔ))
* to meow

##### Conjugation
## Persian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic مَاء (māʔ)

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [ˈmɑːʔ]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [mɑ́ːʔ]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [mɑ́ːʔ]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [mɑ́ː]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [mɔ́ː]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [mɒ́ːʔ]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [mɔ́ʔ]

### Noun

ماء • (mâ')
* water
    Synonym: (more common) آب (âb)
* liquid, juice
* liquor

## Sindhi
### Etymology

Inherited from Sanskrit [Term?].

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [mɑʊ]

### Noun

ماء • (māu) f (Devanagari माउ)
* mother

## Urdu
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian مَاء (mā'), from Arabic مَاء (māʔ).

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Urdu) IPA: /mɑː(ʔ)/

### Noun

ماء • (māʾ) m (Hindi spelling मा)
* water, juice, liquid
    Synonym: پانی (pānī)

### References

* “ماء”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
* “ماء”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.