Thai edit

Etymology edit

From Proto-Tai *ʰnuːᴬ (mouse; rat). Cognate with Northern Thai ᩉ᩠ᨶᩪ, Lao ໜູ (), ᦐᦴ (ṅuu), Tai Dam ꪘꪴ, Shan ၼူ (nǔu), Ahom 𑜃𑜥 (), Zhuang nou, Saek หนู่. Compare Sui hnoc (mouse, rat) and Southern Kam not (mouse, rat), Mon ကၞိ.

Pronunciation edit

Orthographicหนู
h n ū
Phonemic
หฺนู
h ̥ n ū
RomanizationPaiboonnǔu
Royal Institutenu
(standard) IPA(key)/nuː˩˩˦/(R)

Noun edit

หนู (nǔu) (classifier ตัว)

  1. (zoology) murid: member of the Muridae family.
  2. mouse; rat.
  3. (figurative) young person; child.
  4. used as a title or term of address
    1. (colloquial, sometimes considered derogatory and offensive) used as a title for or term of address to a young or younger person or person of lower status.
    2. (colloquial, humble) used by a person to refer to oneself when speaking to an older person or person of higher status.
  5. (slang) (อี~) woman who is a mistress, concubine, minor wife, or illicit lover of a much older man; comfort girl, kept woman, prostitute.