quelê
Macanese
editEtymology
editUniverbation of Portuguese que laia (“what way”), where laia was pronounced as if spelt *leia in early Macanese.[1] Doublet of qui laia.
Pronunciation
editDeterminer
editquelê
Derived terms
edit- quelê-môdo (“how”, literally “in what way”)
- quelê tánto (“any amount; a lot, many”)
Adverb
editquelê
Usage notes
edit- Like qui, quelê can be used to connect a noun with an adjective, similarly to Portuguese bem, for example:
- Irmandade quelê unido ― close-knit siblings (literally, “siblings well connected”)
- fruta quelê maduro ― ripe fruit (literally, “well-ripe fruit”)
References
edit- ^ Batalha, Graciete Nogueira (1988) “quelê”, in Glossário do dialecto macaense: notas linguísticas, etnográficas e folclóricas [Glossary of the Macanese dialect: linguistic, ethnographic and folkloric notes], Macau: Instituto Cultural de Macau, page 62