mẹ

See also: Appendix:Variations of "me"

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *meːʔ ~ *mɛːʔ, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *meeʔ ~ *ʔmeeʔ (“mother”); cognate with Bahnar mĕ, Khmer ម៉ែ (mae), Mon မိ (mìˀ), Khasi mei. Ultimately a nursery word, compare Old Chinese 母 (*mɯʔ) and Proto-Tai *meːᴮ (whence Thai แม่ (mɛ̂ɛ)). Related to mái.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [mɛ˧˨ʔ]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [mɛ˨˩ʔ]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [mɛ˨˩˨]

• Audio (Hồ Chí Minh City)

  (file)

Noun

mẹ • (美, 母, 媄, 姆, 󰀱)

1. a mother

   Synonyms: u, mợ, mạ, má, bầm, mệ, nạ

Pronoun

mẹ

1. I/me, your mother
2. you, my mother
3. (ironic) you, a female who I think is being stupid

Interjection

mẹ

1. Short for địt mẹ (“fuck”).

   (địt con) mẹ mày

   fuck you

Further reading

• "mẹ" in Hồ Ngọc Đức, Free Vietnamese Dictionary Project (details)