လို

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See also: လို့ and လီု

Burmese

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Old Burmese လိဝ် (liw) or Old Burmese လိုဝ် (luiw); though the word appears to be Sino-Tibetan, cognates outside of Lolo-Burmese are uncertain. STEDT refrains from assigning etymology (lo²² "want / need"), and Luce compares Old Chinese (OC *qew, *qews, “to want, wish, ask”), based on an older reconstructed pronunciation *yog, though this is now outdated.[1] A newer theory by Schuessler compares the Burmese to Old Chinese (OC *loɡ, “desire”).

Verb

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လို (lui)

  1. to want (desire)
    Synonyms: ချင် (hkyang), လိုချင် (luihkyang)
  2. to need
  3. to be wanting or lacking, to be missing
  4. to be short of a certain point of reference
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “Not given etymology by STEDT (lui "verb affix as"), and not mentioned by Luce 1981. Could it be a semantic extension and grammaticalization of the "want" sense in Etymology 1?”

Postposition

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လို (lui)

  1. (colloquial) postpositional marker indicating medium of communication used: in (a language)
    ဗမာလိုba.maluiin Burmese
    အင်းဂလိပ်လို ရေးပါ
    ang:ga.liplui re:pa||
    Please write in English.
  2. particle suffixed to nouns to denote similarity: like (such as), as (in the manner or role specified)
Derived terms
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References

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  1. ^ Luce, G. H. (1981) “-UI finals (> 60. to Want, Wish, Desire)”, in A Comparative Word-List of Old Burmese, Chinese and Tibetan, London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, →ISBN, page 30

Further reading

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  • လို” in Myanmar–English Dictionary (Myanmar Language Commission 1993). Searchable online at SEAlang.net.
  • လို” in Burmese/Myanmar Dictionary of Grammatical Forms (Routledge 2001, →ISBN), by John Okell and Anna Allott.
  • Pain, Frederic. "Towards a panchronic perspective on a diachronic issue: the rhyme<-uiw> in Old Burmese." Australian Journal of Linguistics 37.4 (2017): 424-464.