mon

Noun

mon (plural mons or mon)

1. (historical) The former currency of Japan until 1870, before the yen.
   • 1902, Walter Del Mar, Around the World Through Japan, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., page 136:

     The shimonsen or shimon, originally worth four mon, but debased to two mon.

2. The badge or emblem of a Japanese family, especially a family of the ancient feudal nobility; typically circular and consists of conventionalized forms from nature.

Noun

mon

1. (colloquial) Man; used in places such as Jamaica, and Lancashire, Shropshire and the Black Country in England.
   • 1974, “A Mon Like Thee”, in Best o't' Bunch‎, performed by The Oldham Tinkers:

     Ee I'm allus glad to see a mon like thee. That's as welcome lad, as welcome as can be. Fotch thi cheer up t'table. Stop as long as th'art able. Fer I'm allus glad to see a mon like thee.

   • 2020, “Black Country Mon”‎performed by Johnny Cole:

     I am a Black Country mon. Yow dow know and the Brummies woh understond.

See also

• (term of address for a man) mate (British, Australia), dude

Alternative forms

• 'mon

Noun

mon (plural mons)

1. (fandom slang) A creature in a video game, usually one which is captured, trained up and used in battles.
   • 2000 November 25, Thomas Conner, “Digimon Top Ten Choice List”, in alt.fan.digimon‎ (Usenet):

     Here they are, the fans voted for them, and here they are, the Mons that can...

   • 2003 February 15, sirSTACK, “Digimon #429”, in alt.fan.digimon‎ (Usenet):

     When a mon attacks him, he returns the same strike with the world "Reflection" after it, double the original strength.

   • 2011 June 6, Clayton, “PW! - Training Interlude”, in alt.games.nintendo.pokemon‎ (Usenet):

     And thus did it come to pass that the boy and the two mons, after a brief final discussion began the training.

2. (fandom slang) A video game or anime in which catching and battling creatures is an important element.
   • 2001 May 27, Travis Anton, “Cigarette Smoke”, in alt.home.repair‎ (Usenet):

     Pokemon, digimon and all other merchandised mons, what good parent will disagree with me that those little invading, mind rotting things should be tolerated... those should be illegal, too...

   • 2001 May 24, Horace Wachope, “Kids Toys”, in alt.ozdebate‎ (Usenet):

     And dont buy Pokemon or Digimon or any other bloody Mons or you will never hear the ned^[sic] of it :-)

   • 2003 December 9, tito, “Main difference between anime and U.S. cartoons?”, in rec.arts.anime.misc‎ (Usenet):

     At any rate Digimon was the best mon/collector series we've seen yet, to the point its popularity was prolly bigger here than its marketing.

Alternative forms

• 'mon

Interjection

mon

1. (chiefly Scotland) Come on! Part of a chant for a team or band.
   • 2011 September 1, Alan Bissett, Pack Men, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

     'Sing up, runt,' he goes, slapping my back friendly/forceful. 'Mon the Rangers!'

   • 2014 April 14, Martin Travers, Scarfed For Life: 2nd edition, A&C Black, →ISBN:

     Narrator: Jack's a Celtic fan.
     Jack: Mon the hoops!

   • 2022 April 19, Ian Winwood, Bodies: Life and Death in Music, Faber & Faber, →ISBN:

     I caught sight of a lake of faces chanting 'Mon the Biff! Mon the Biff!" – come on the Biffy Clyro – with a startling and percussive unity. 'Mon. The. Biff!' 'Mon. The. Biff!' 'Mon. The. Biff!'

Usage notes

• The use of mon and the other possessive determiners is mostly archaic in the majority of dialects, with articulated possessive pronouns (e.g. el meu) mostly being used in their stead. However, mon, ton, and son are still widely used before certain nouns referring to family members and some affective nouns, such as amic, casa, and vida. Which nouns actually find use with the possessive determiners depends greatly on the locale.

The standard masculine plural form is mos, but mons can be found in some dialects.

Descendants

• Sicilian: mo (South Easy of Sicily, nearby Ragusa)

See also

• meu

Derived terms

Adverb

mon

1. I wonder

   Mon luftmodstanden kan være betydningsfuld?

   Might the air resistance be significant, I wonder?

   Nå, mon ikke de snart er færdige.

   Well, I wonder if they might be ready?

   Er det mon bare et spørgsmål om at opskrive alle tilfælde, og så udstrege alle de umulige?

   I wonder if it is just a matter of enumerating all cases, and then excluding the impossible ones?

Verb

mon

1. (obsolete) present tense singular of monne

See also

Usage notes

Mon is used before all singular nouns beginning with a vowel or a mute H, even those that are feminine. However, ma is used with singular feminine nouns beginning with either a consonant or an aspirated H.

Derived terms

• mondit

Related terms

Descendants

• Louisiana Creole: mô

Noun

mon (plural men)

1. Alternative form of man (“man, person”)

Pronoun

mon

1. Alternative form of man (“one, you”)

Noun

mon

1. Alternative form of mone (“moon”)

Verb

mon

1. Alternative form of mone (“shall”)

Verb

mon

1. Alternative form of monen (“to remember”)

Verb

mon

1. Alternative form of monen (“to lament”)

Descendants

• French: mon

Alternative forms

• mo

Adjective

mon m (feminine ma)

1. my (belonging to me)

Noun

mon m (oblique plural mons, nominative singular mons, nominative plural mon)

1. world
   • c. 1145, Bernard de Ventadour, Anc no gardei sazo ni mes:

     Tota gens ditz que Vianes
     Es la melher terra del mon

     Everyone says that Vianes
     is the best land in the world

Inflection

Further reading

• Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎, Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland
• Giellatekno institute collection of web dictionaries https://giellatekno.uit.no/cgi/index.sms.nob.html%20
• Moshnikoff, Satu; Moshnikoff, Jouni, authors and Lehtinen, Miika; Koponen, Eino; Fofonoff, Merja; Lehtola, Raija, editors (2020) Lääʹdd-sääʹm sääʹnnǩeʹrjj https://saan.oahpa.no/

Declension