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Japanese
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Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [mo̞]
Etymology 1
Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 毛 in the cursive sōsho style.
Syllable
も (romaji mo)
- The hiragana syllable も (mo). Its equivalent in katakana is モ (mo). It is the thirty-fifth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is ま行お段 (ma-gyō o-dan, “row ma, section o”).
See also
- (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こ𛄲ご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, らら゚, りり゚, るる゚, れれ゚, ろろ゚, わゎわ゙, ゐ𛅐ゐ゙, 𛄟, ゑ𛅑ゑ゙, を𛅒を゙, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ
Etymology 2
⟨mo2⟩ → */mə/ → /mo/
From Old Japanese.
Particle
も • (mo)
- (non-unique topic marker)
- Antonym: は
- too; also; as well
- 田中さんはビールを飲んでいる。スミスさんも飲んでいる。
- Tanaka-san wa bīru o nondeiru. Sumisu-san mo nondeiru.
- Tanaka is drinking beer. Smith is also drinking.
- 本日もご来店くださいまして、ありがとうございます。
- Honjitsu mo go-raiten kudasaimashite, arigatō gozaimasu.
- Thank you for visiting our store today as well [as other days].
- 私にもくれた。 ― Watashi ni mo kureta. ― [She] gave some to me, too.
- 田中さんはビールを飲んでいる。スミスさんも飲んでいる。
- even
- 夢にも思いませんでした。
- Yume ni mo omoimasen deshita.
- I have never thought of this even in my dreams.
- 500 円もあれば買える。
- Gohyaku en mo areba kaeru.
- I only need 500 yen to buy this.
- (literally, “I can buy this even if I have only 500 yen.”)
- 猿も木から落ちる
- saru mo ki kara ochiru
- Even experts occasionally make mistakes.
- (literally, “Even monkeys fall from trees”)
- 夢にも思いませんでした。
- (attaching to an indefinite pronoun or determiner) all; every
- 誰も知っていることだ。 ― Dare mo shitte iru koto da. ― Everyone knows this.
- 箱の中には何もなかった。
- Hako no naka ni wa nani mo nakatta.
- The box was empty.
- (literally, “Inside the box, all things do not exist.”)
- Used to emphasize amounts.
- 何万人も来た。 ― Nanmannin mo kita. ― Myriads of people came.
Usage notes
- も (mo) vs は (wa):
- も indicates the topic is “non-unique”, i.e., the result or conclusion remains the same even if the current topic is changed.
- 今日もいい天気。
- Kyō mo ii tenki.
- Nice weather today. (implying something like “the weather was also nice yesterday/the weather is fine as usual”.)
- 今日もいい天気。
- は indicates the topic is “unique”, i.e., the result or conclusion will be different if the current topic is changed.
- 今日はいい天気。
- Kyō wa ii tenki.
- Nice weather today. (implying something like “the weather was bad yesterday/the weather has been bad recently”.)
- 今日はいい天気。
- も indicates the topic is “non-unique”, i.e., the result or conclusion remains the same even if the current topic is changed.
- も (mo) always replaces を (o) and が (ga), but may follow other particles.
- When after a verb, the verb is conjugated as て (-te) in conventional language and as the dictionary form in literary language: しても (shite mo), するも (suru mo).
Synonyms
- (even): すら (sura), さえ (sae), まで (made), だって (datte), だに (dani)
Derived terms
Derived terms
- もが (mo ga)
- もや (mo ya)
- もよ (mo yo)
- いつも (itsu mo)
- いつまでも (itsu made mo)
- かも (ka mo)
- しも (shi mo)
- だにも (dani mo)
- でも (de mo)
- とも (to mo)
- ども (do mo)
- にも (ni mo)
- もがも (mo ga mo)
- やも (ya mo)
- をも (o mo)
Etymology 3
Readings of various kanji.
Noun
も • (mo)
- 最: This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text
{{rfdef}}. - 喪: mourning
- 裳: This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text
{{rfdef}}. - 藻: algae
- 面: This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text
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Old Japanese
Etymology 1
From Proto-Japonic *mə.
Appears in common use in the Kojiki (712 CE), with the only attested distinction between ⟨mo1⟩ and ⟨mo2⟩. Compare Middle Chinese 母 (MC məuX).
Pronunciation was distinct from ⟨mo1⟩ terms such as 雲 (kumo1, “cloud”) and 下 (simo1, “lower, end”); pronounced closely to Middle Chinese 毛 (MC mɑu, mɑuH). This was lost in a later ancient Japanese chronicle, the Nihon Shoki (720 CE), and ⟨mo1⟩ and ⟨mo2⟩ were merged to form one syllable mo. See the Man'yōgana and Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai articles for more detail on ancient spellings.
Particle
も (mo2 → mo)
- non-unique topic marker: also, even
Derived terms
- かも (ka mo)
Descendants
- Japanese: も (mo)
Etymology 2
The Eastern variant of む (-mu).[1]
Suffix
も (-mo)
- (regional, Eastern Old Japanese) Used to form the conjectural form of verbs, equivalent to modern う (-u)/よう (-yō)
- c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 14, poem 3418), text here
- 可美都氣努佐野田能奈倍能武良奈倍爾許登波佐太米都伊麻波伊可爾世母
- Kami1tuke2no1 Sano1da-no2-nape2 no2 muranape2 ni ko2to2 ni sadame2tu ima pa ika ni semo
- (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 20, poem 4418), text here
- 和我可度乃可多夜麻都婆伎麻己等奈禮和我弖布禮奈奈都知爾於知母加毛
- waga kado1 no2 katayama tubaki mako2to2 nare waga te purenana tuti ni otimo ka mo
- (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 14, poem 3418), text here
Usage notes
This is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.
References
- 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN