x'inhu

Maltese

Etymology

From Arabic أَيُّ شَيْءٍ هُوَ (ʔayyu šayʔin huwa, literally “what thing is it”), whence also Moroccan Arabic شنو (šnu), اشنو (ašnu), Gulf Arabic شنو (šinu). The ancient genitive ending -in was generally lost, but remained in contraction with the following personal pronoun. Compare also xejn (“nothing”), where the final -n is the accusative ending -an.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈʃɪnu/

Pronoun

x’inhu m (extended form x’inhuwa, feminine singular x’inhi or x’inhija, plural x’inhuma)

contraction of x’ (“what”) + hu (“he, it”)

Usage notes

Often equivalent to English “what is”. For details on usage, see the notes at x’.