moi

See also: Appendix:Variations of "moi"

Languages (22)

Translingual • English

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Abinomn • Cimbrian • Dutch • Finnish • French • Galician • German • Japanese • Lingala • Manado Malay • Mòcheno • Murui Huitoto • Naga Pidgin • Nefamese • North Frisian • Old French • Polish • Romanian • Sranan Tongo • Vietnamese

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Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

Abbreviation of English Mboi.

Symbol

moi

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Mboi.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Mboi terms

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

French moibor.

English moi

Borrowed from French moi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mwɑː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: mwah
• Rhymes: -ɑː

Pronoun

moi

1. (humorous or sarcastic, often used questioningly to express mock surprise) Me.

   Don't you be so cheeky. — Cheeky? Moi?

   Who'd have thought that such a thing would happen to little old moi!

   • 2000 April 30, John Swartzwelder, “Kill the Alligator and Run”, in The Simpsons, season 11, episode 19:

     Kid Rock: Yo, let's waste that biotch. / Homer: Biotch? Moi?

   • 2011, Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller, The Muppets, spoken by Miss Piggy:

     There's only one Miss Piggy, and she is moi.

Related terms

• culte du moi
• ménage à moi

Anagrams

• IMO, IOM, Imo, Mio, imo, omi

Abinomn

Noun

moi

1. land snake
2. paternal grandfather

Cimbrian

Alternative forms

• main (Sette Comuni)

Etymology

From Middle High German mīn, from Old High German mīn, from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my, mine”). Cognate with German mein, English mine.

Determiner

moi

1. (Luserna) my

   Moi pruadar Sèpp hatt 9 djar. ― My brother Joe is nine years old.

References

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Dutch

Etymology

Possibly from Danish mojn.

Interjection

moi

1. (dialectal) hi, hello

Finnish

Etymology

From Low German; see German Low German moin. Has also been compared with moro, suggesting a connection with Swedish morgon, but this is now considered unlikely.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoi̯/, [ˈmo̞i̯]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oi
• Syllabification^(key): moi
• Hyphenation^(key): moi

Interjection

moi

1. hi, hello

Derived terms

• moido
• moikka

Further reading

• “moi”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023

Anagrams

• omi

French

Alternative forms

• moé (Quebec, colloquial)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French moy, from Old French mei, moi, mi (“me”), tonic form of me, from Latin mē (“me”), from Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)me-, *(h₁)me-n- (“me”). More at me.

See cognates in regional languages in France: Norman mei, Gallo mai, Picard moè and Bourguignon moi from Old French; Corsican and Franco-Provençal mè.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mwa/, (Quebec, informal) /mwe/

• Audio (France (Paris)):

  (file)

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Homophone: mois

Pronoun

moi

1. me (first-person singular disjunctive pronoun)

   L'État, c'est moi. ― I am the State.

   Ce n'est pas à moi ! ― That's not mine! (literally, “It's not to me!”)

   Lui et moi sommes américains.

   He and I are American.

   (Literally, “Him and me are”, like in colloquial English; “he and I” would be *“il et je”, which is ungrammatical in French.)

2. me (first-person singular object pronoun of imperative verbs)

   Donne-moi ça ! ― Give me that!

Usage notes

Disjunctive or tonic pronouns are the default form of personal pronouns in French, used wherever clitic subject and object pronouns do not apply, often with many similarities with the everyday usage of English me (q.v.). Namely, it is used:

• as the object of a preposition:

  C'est pour moi ? ― Is that for me?

• as the predicate of copular verbs (including cleft sentences):

  Le roi c'est moi !

  The King is I!

  C'est moi qui l'ai commencé ; ce ne sera pas moi qui le finirai.

  It was me who started it; it won't be me who'll finish it.

• (colloquial or informal) in dislocation, to focus the sentence on oneself before any personal pronoun or possessive determiner (like mon, ton, etc.), having no direct equivalent in English; also, to strengthen the active power of an associated personal pronoun (similar to English's “Me (or As for me), I ...”):

  Moi, je ne sais pas. ― Personally, I don't know. (literally, “Me, I don't know.”)

  Moi, on ne m'en a pas parlé. ― As for me, I wasn't told about it.

  Moi ma mère elle fait les meilleures crêpes.

  My mom makes the best crepes.

  (literally, “Me my mom she makes ...”)

  Moi ton chien il commence à me les casser.

  Your dog's starting to get on my nerves.

  (literally, “Me your dog he starts ...”)

• as part of a longer noun phrase:

  Mon frère et moi habitons à Londres. ― My brother and I live in London.

  Ni toi, ni moi ne savons où il se trouve. ― Neither you nor I know where he is.

• in isolation (like in English):

  Qui veut une glace ? — Moi !

  Who wants ice cream? — Me!

Moi and toi are also used as enclitic objects of imperative verbs, whereas other object pronouns keep the same form as their clitic form.

Regardez-moi !

Look at me!

Regardez-moi pas ! (informal)

Don't look at me!

When the pronoun is found before the verb (either by regular negation with ne, or by other causes), the regular object pronouns me and te are used.

Ne me regardez pas !

Don't look at me!

Me regardez donc ! (dated)

Do look at me!

Synonyms

• mézigue (argot)

Derived terms

• à moi
• et moi donc
• moi-même

Related terms

French personal pronouns

number	person	gender	nominative (subject)	accusative (direct complement)	dative (indirect complement)	locative (at)	genitive (of)	disjunctive (tonic)1	emphatic reflexive
singular	first	—	je, j’	me, m’		—	—	moi	moi-même
	second	—	tu	te, t’		—	—	toi	toi-même
	third	masculine	il2	le, l’	lui	y	en	lui	lui-même
		feminine	elle	la, l’				elle	elle-même
		indeterminate	on3, l’on (formal), ce4, c’, ça	—	—	—	—	—	—
		reflexive	—	se, s’5		—	—	soi	soi-même
plural	first	—	nous	nous		—	—	nous	nous-mêmes
	second6	—	vous	vous		—	—	vous	vous-mêmes, vous-même6
	third	masculine	ils7	les	leur	y	en	eux7	eux-mêmes7
		feminine	elles					elles	elles-mêmes

¹ The disjunctive (tonic) forms are also used after an explicit preposition (de/d’, à, pour, chez, dans, vers, sur, sous, ...), instead the accusative, dative, genitive, locative, or reflexive forms, where a preposition is implied.
² Il is also used as an impersonal nominative-only pronoun.
³ On can also function as a first person plural (although agreeing with third person singular verb forms).
⁴ The nominal indeterminate form ce (demonstrative) can also be used with the auxiliary verb être as a plural, instead of the proximal or distal gendered forms.
⁵ The reflexive third person singular forms (se or s’) for accusative or dative are also used as third person plural reflexive.
⁶ Vous is also used as the polite singular form, in which case the plural disjunctive tonic vous-mêmes becomes singular vous-même.
⁷ Ils, eux and eux-mêmes are also used when a group has a mixture of masculine and feminine members.

Noun

moi m (uncountable)

1. the ego; the me

Derived terms

• non-moi

See also

• je
• me

Further reading

• “moi”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Galician

Etymology

13th century. Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese moi, mui, from moito, muito (“very”) (moi is exclusively used by Galician authors and in the Cantigas de Santa Maria).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoj/ [ˈmoj]
• Rhymes: -oj
• Hyphenation: moi

Adverb

moi

1. apocopic form of moito (“very”)

Derived terms

• moi logo

Related terms

• moito

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “mui”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “moi”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “moi”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “moi”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔɪ/ (Austria)

Interjection

moi

1. (Austria, colloquial) aw (Used to express affection.)

   Moi, ist der Hase süß! ― Aw, what a cute rabbit!

Japanese

Romanization

moi

1. Rōmaji transcription of もい

Lingala

Etymology

See Lingala mói.

Noun

moi

1. sun

Manado Malay

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch mooi (“beautiful”), from Middle Dutch mooy, moy, from Old Dutch mōi.

Adjective

moi

1. beautiful

References

• Balai Bahasa Provinsi Sulawesi Utara (2021), Kamus Dwibahasa Melayu Manado-Indonesia (in Indonesian), Manado: Balai Bahasa Provinsi Sulawesi Utara

Mòcheno

Etymology

From Middle High German meie, from Old High German meio, from Latin Maius. Cognate with German Mai.

Noun

moi m

1. May

See also

Gregorian calendar monthsedit

• genner
• hourneng
• merz
• oberel
• moi
• prochet
• heibeger
• agst
• leistagst
• schanmikeal
• òlderhaileng
• schantònderer

References

• “moi” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.

Murui Huitoto

moi
Root	Classifier
moi-	—

Etymology

Cognates include Minica Huitoto moi and Nüpode Huitoto moi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmɔi]
• Hyphenation: moi

Noun

moi

1. rear

Declension

Declension of moi

	singular	plural
absolutive	moi	—
nominative	moidɨ	—
accusative	moina	—
dative/locative	moimo	—
ablative	moimona	—
instrumental	moido	—
causal	moiri	—
privative	moinino	—
sequential	moinona	—

Root

moi

1. rear

Derived terms

• moiduraɨ
• moifo
• moigoɨ
• moiyɨ

References

• Shirley Burtch (1983), Diccionario Huitoto Murui (Tomo I) (Linguistica Peruana No. 20)‎^[2] (in Spanish), Yarinacocha, Peru: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, page 178
• Katarzyna Izabela Wojtylak (2017), A grammar of Murui (Bue): a Witotoan language of Northwest Amazonia.‎^[3], Townsville: James Cook University press (PhD thesis), page 127

Naga Pidgin

Etymology

Inherited from Assamese মই (moi).

Pronoun

moi

1. I (1st person singular pronoun)

   Synonym: ami

Nefamese

Etymology

Inherited from Assamese মই (moi).

Pronoun

moi

1. I (1st person singular pronoun)

North Frisian

Alternative forms

• mei (Föhr-Amrum)
• Mai (Sylt)

Noun

moi m

1. (Mooring) synonym of krölemoune

Old French

Alternative forms

• mei (early Old French or Anglo-Norman)
• mi (early Old French)

Etymology

Tonic form of me, from Latin mē.

Pronoun

moi

1. me

Usage notes

• Similar in terms of usage to modern French moi except it may be used as a personal object pronoun where modern French would use me :

  ele se paine de moi ocire (modern French uses me tuer or m'occire).

Related terms

• me
• jo

Descendants

• Middle French: moy
  • French: moi

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔ.i/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔi
• Syllabification: mo‧i

Pronoun

moi

1. virile nominative/vocative plural of mój

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [moj]

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

moi

1. first/second-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of muia

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch mooi.

Adjective

moi

1. beautiful

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [mɔj˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [mɔj˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [mɔj˧˧]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Vietic *-mɔːl ~ muəl (“digging stick”), from Proto-Mon-Khmer *ɟmuul ~ *ɟmuəl (“to dibble”); cognate with Bahnar jơmul (“to plant rice using dibble stick to make holes”) and Khmu [Cuang] cmɔːl ("to plant"). Compare mói (as in soi mói, from Proto-Vietic *c-mɔːlʔ).

Verb

moi • (𫴱)

1. to drag out, to dig out

Derived terms

• moi móc
• soi mói

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

(classifier con) moi

1. (Central Vietnam) kind of small shrimp of the genus Acetes

   Synonyms: ruốc, khuyết