မိန်းမ

See also: မြန်မြန်

Burmese

Alternative spelling

• မိမ္မ (mimma.) (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Burmese မိယ်မ (miy ma). The first element is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-mi(j)-n (“people, man, human being”), which is cognate with Chinese 民 (mín, “people, men”).

An outdated folk etymology claimed that the word was derived from မီးမာ (mi:ma, “burned scar”). Traditional Burmese-Buddhist origin myth says that proto-women got burned scars after they fell from celestial grace.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /méɪɴma̰/
• Romanization: MLCTS: min:ma. • ALA-LC: minʻʺma • BGN/PCGN: mein:ma. • Okell: meìñmá

Noun

မိန်းမ • (min:ma.) (classifier ယောက် or ဦး)

1. woman

Coordinate terms

• ယောက်ျား (“man”)