Burmese

edit

Etymology 1

edit
This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “Not given etymology by STEDT (si⁵⁵ "flow (of water)", nor is it mentioned by Luce 1981. Is စီးပွား (ci:pwa:, commercial enterprise) related?”

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

စီး (ci:)

  1. to flow (move as a fluid)
Derived terms
edit

Etymology 2

edit

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *gyi ~ *dzyi (to ride, sit astride, sit (on a horse)), a Wanderwort in the E/SE sprachbund (STEDT). Compare Old Chinese (OC *ɡral, *ɡrals), Khmer ជិះ (cih), Nuosu (zzy, to ride; to bear (a rider)), (zy, to cause to ride), Thai ขี่ (kìi), Lao ຂີ່ (khī), Zhuang gwih, White Hmong caij, Vietnamese cưỡi, Proto-Austronesian *sakay (catch a ride, join a group, ride on something).

Pronunciation

edit

Classifier:

  • Phonetic respellings: စီး, ဇီး
  • IPA(key): /sí/, /zí/
  • Romanization: MLCTS: ci: • ALA-LC: cīʺ • BGN/PCGN: si:/zi: • Okell: sì/sì

Verb:

Classifier

edit

စီး (ci:)

  1. numerical classifier for vehicles and transport animals
    • 2006, Gene Mesher, Burmese for Beginners, page 114:
      ကား နှစ်စီး ရှိတယ်။
      ka: hnacci: hri.tai||
      [I] have two cars.

Verb

edit

စီး (ci:)

  1. to ride on (a vehicle, etc.)
  2. to put on, wear (shoes, etc.)
  3. to attack, raid
  4. to possess
  5. to take unfair advantage, especially with one's equals
  6. to weigh
Derived terms
edit

Usage notes

edit

In the classifier, the voiceless variant /sí/ occurs after /ʔ/; the voiced variant /zí/ after vowels and /ɴ/.

Further reading

edit
  • စီး 1 ‘ride on’” in The Judson Burmese–English Dictionary (Rangoon: American Baptist Mission Press 1921), page 376.
  • စီး 2 ‘flow’” in The Judson Burmese–English Dictionary (Rangoon: American Baptist Mission Press 1921), page 377.
  • စီး” in Myanmar–English Dictionary (Myanmar Language Commission 1993). Searchable online at SEAlang.net.