npab

White Hmong

Etymology

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “Considered native Hmongic by Ratliff, though no reconstructed form is given.^[1] Maybe borrowed from Chinese 膊 (bó, “shoulder, upper arm”)? Less likely, related to tes (“hand”) somehow via the latter's proto-form *-bɔuX?”

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ᵐba˥/

Noun

npab (classifier: lub)

(in compounds) arm

Derived terms

caj npab (“(upper) arm”)
tooj npab (“bracelet”)
yas npab (“elbow”)

References

Heimbach, Ernest E. (1979) White Hmong — English Dictionary‎^[1], SEAP Publications, →ISBN.

^ https://web.archive.org/web/20101031002604/http://wold.livingsources.org/vocabulary/25

[1] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20101031002604/http://wold.livingsources.org/vocabulary/25

[1]