muag

White Hmong

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /muə̯˧˩̤/

Etymology 1

Clipping of ntsej muag.

Noun

muag

  1. face

Etymology 2

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *mu̯ɛjH (“eye”).[1] Compare other similar words for "eye" across East and Southeast Asia, like Old Chinese 目 (OC *muɡ, “id”),[2] Japanese 目 (me, “id”), Vietnamese mắt (“id”), and Tagalog mata (“id”).

Noun

muag

  1. eye(s)
Derived terms

Etymology 3

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *mɛjH (“to sell”);[1] related to Chinese 賣/卖 (mài, “to sell”), perhaps via borrowing from the latter.[3] See also muaj (“to have”).

Verb

muag

  1. to sell
Antonyms

Etymology 4

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *mlu̯ɛjH (“soft”);[1] compare Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ma-lumu (“soft, tender, gentle”), whence Manusela malua (“soft”).[4] Similarities to Proto-Indo-European *ml̥dus (“soft, weak”) are most likely coincidental.

Adjective

muag

  1. soft
  2. weak

References

  • Heimbach, Ernest E. (1979) White Hmong — English Dictionary‎, SEAP Publications, →ISBN.
  1. Ratliff, Martha (2010) Hmong-Mien language history (Studies in Language Change; 8), Camberra, Australia: Pacific Linguistics, →ISBN, page 276.
  2. Ratliff, Martha (2010) Hmong-Mien language history (Studies in Language Change; 8), Camberra, Australia: Pacific Linguistics, →ISBN, page 252.
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20101031002604/http://wold.livingsources.org/vocabulary/25
  4. Ratliff, Martha (2010) Hmong-Mien language history (Studies in Language Change; 8), Camberra, Australia: Pacific Linguistics, →ISBN, page 49.
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