ကျွန်မ

ကျွန်မ

Burmese

Etymology

From ကျွန် (kywan, “slave”) +‎ -မ (-ma., “feminine”).

Pronunciation

• Phonetic respellings: ကျွန်မ, ကျွန်'မ
• IPA^(key): /t͡ɕʊ̀ɴma̰/, /t͡ɕəma̰/
• Romanization: MLCTS: kywanma. • ALA-LC: kyvan‘ma • BGN/PCGN: kyunma./kyăma. • Okell: cuñmá/cămá

Pronoun

ကျွန်မ • (kywanma.)

1. (women's speech) I, me (formal polite, used by females)

Synonyms

• ကျွန်တော် (kywantau) (formal polite, used by males)
• ကျနော် (kya.nau) (colloquial polite, used by males)
• ကျမ (kya.ma.) (colloquial polite, used by females)
• ငါ (nga) (familiar)

See also

Burmese personal pronouns

Burmese	Person	Level of speech	Remarks
ငါ (nga)	First	Informal	used when speaking to one's equals or inferiors
ကျွန်တော် (kywantau)	First	Formal	used by males
ကျွန်မ (kywanma.)	First	Formal	used by females
ကျွန်နုပ် (kywannup)	First	Informal
ကျုပ် (kyup)	First	Informal
နင် (nang)	Second	Informal	used when speaking to one's equals or inferiors
မင်း (mang:)	Second	Informal	used when speaking to one's equals or inferiors
ညည်း (nyany:)	Second	Informal	used by females when addressing another female of same age or one younger
တော် (tau)	Second	Informal	used by females
ခင်ဗျား (hkangbya:)	Second	Formal	used by males
ရှင် (hrang)	Second	Formal	used by females
သင် (sang), အသင် (a.sang)	Second	Formal
သူ (su)	Third
သင်း (sang:)	Third
ချင်း (hkyang:)	Third

Noun

ကျွန်မ • (kywanma.)

1. female slave