mãe

See also: mae, Mae, Maè, Māe, mä, mæ, ma'e, and -mä

Portuguese

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Portuguese mãy, hypocoristic form of madre, from Latin māter (“mother”), from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (“mother”).

Compare Galician mai, nai, Mirandese, Leonese, and Aragonese mai and Asturian ma.

Pronunciation
  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈmɐ̃j̃/ [ˈmɐ̃ɪ̯̃]

  • Audio(file)
  • Homophone: Mem (Portugal)
  • Rhymes: -ɐ̃j̃
  • Hyphenation: mãe

Noun

mãe f (plural mães)

  1. mother (female who gives birth to or parents a child)
    Synonyms: genetriz, genitora, mamã, (childish) mamãe, progenitora
  2. one's mother
    Mãe, a senhora viu meus óculos?
    Mom, have you seen my glasses?
  3. (figurative) mother (source or origin)
    A Ibéria é a mãe da Era do Descobrimento.
    Iberia is the mother of the Age of Discovery.
  4. (relational, in compounds) mother, stem (whence others spawn, are generated, are copied or stem)
    nave-mãe
    mothership
    célula-mãe
    stem cell
  5. lees (sediment that settles during fermentation of beverages)
    Synonym: madre

Coordinate terms
  • (female parent): pai

Derived terms

Descendants
Descendants
  • Angolar: maa
  • Ambonese Malay: mai, maitua
  • Annobonese: mai, me
  • Guinea-Bissau Creole: mai
  • Indo-Portuguese: mãe, mai
  • Kabuverdianu: mai
  • Kristang: mai
  • Principense: mwin
  • Sãotomense: men
  • Tetun Dili: madre

Further reading
  • “mãe” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.