mes

See also: Appendix:Variations of "mes"

Languages (37)

Afrikaans • Albanian • Aragonese • Aromanian • Asturian • Atong (India) • Catalan • Cornish • Dutch • Franco-Provençal • French • Galician • Garo • Gothic • Indonesian • Kalasha • Ladino • Latgalian • Latvian • Lithuanian • Lombard • Megleno-Romanian • Occitan • Old English • Old French • Old Galician-Portuguese • Old Irish • Old Occitan • Old Prussian • Portuguese • Rohingya • Romansch • Spanish • Sumerian • Swedish • Zoogocho Zapotec

Page categories

English

Noun

mes

plural of me
If I travelled back in time to witness my own birth, would there be two mes?

Anagrams

EMS, EMs, Ems, MSE, SEM, SME, Sem, ems, sem

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch mes, from Middle Dutch mets, mes, contraction of *metses, from Old Dutch *metisas, *metsas, from Proto-West Germanic *matisahs (“food knife”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /mɛs/
Audio: (file)

Noun

mes (plural messe)

knife

Derived terms

Descendants

→ Zulu: umese
- Fanagalo: mes (or directly)

Albanian

Alternative forms

midis

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *meTi, *meTśi-, from Proto-Indo-European *me-t/dhi (“with, middle”), ultimately from *medʰyo-. Cognate to Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌸 (miþ, “with”). It might represent a devoiced variant of mez. A loan from Modern Greek μέσος (mésos, “in the middle”) is not excluded.

Noun

mes m (plural mese, definite mesi, definite plural meset)

middle

Declension

Declension of mes

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	mes	mesi	mese	meset
accusative	mes	mesin	mese	meset
dative	mesi	mesit	meseve	meseve
ablative	mesi	mesit	mesesh	meseve

Derived terms

Aragonese

Etymology

From Latin mensis.

Noun

mes m (plural meses)

month

References

Bal Palazios, Santiago (2002) “mes”, in Dizionario breu de a luenga aragonesa, Zaragoza, →ISBN

Aromanian

Etymology

From Latin mensis.

Noun

mes m (plural mesh)

month

Synonyms

(month): lunã

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin mensis.

Noun

mes m (plural meses)

month

Atong (India)

Etymology

Cognate with Garo mes. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Noun

mes

sheep

References

van Breugel, Seino. 2015. Atong-English dictionary, second edition. Available online: https://www.academia.edu/487044/Atong_English_Dictionary.

Catalan

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Catalan mes, from Latin mēnsem (“month”), from Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s (“moon, month”). Compare Occitan mes, French mois, Spanish mes.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈmes]
Homophone: més
Rhymes: -es

Noun

mes m (plural mesos)

month

Adverb

mes

but

Etymology 3

Inherited from Latin missus, perfect passive participle of mittere.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈmɛs]
IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈməs]
IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈmes]
Rhymes: -es

Participle

mes (feminine mesa, masculine plural mesos, feminine plural meses)

past participle of metre

Etymology 4

Inherited from Vulgar Latin mās, reduced form of Latin meās.

Pronunciation

(Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /məs/ (always unstressed)
(Valencia, Alghero) IPA^(key): /mes/ (always unstressed)

Determiner

mes

feminine plural of mon

References

“mes” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
“mes”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
“mes” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
“mes” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Cornish

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *magestus, from *magos.

Noun

mes m (plural mesyow)

open field
open country

Adverb

mes

out

Etymology 2

From Proto-Celtic *messus (“acorn”). Cognate with Welsh mes (“acorns”), Breton mez (“acorns”).

Noun

mes m (singulative mesen)

(collective) acorns

Etymology 3

Conjunction

mes

but

Dutch

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:

mes (voorwerp)

Wikipedia ^nl

Etymology

From Middle Dutch mets, mes, contraction of *metses, from Old Dutch *metisas, *metsas, from Proto-West Germanic *matisahs (“food knife”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /mɛs/
Audio: (file)
Hyphenation: mes
Rhymes: -ɛs
Homophone: Mesch

Noun

mes n (plural messen, diminutive mesje n)

knife, cleaver
(informal) blade

Derived terms

Descendants

Afrikaans: mes
- → Zulu: umese
  - Fanagalo: mes (or directly)
Berbice Creole Dutch: mesi
Jersey Dutch: määs
Negerhollands: mes
Skepi Creole Dutch: masa
→ Indonesian: mes (“medical knife”)
→ Japanese: メス (mesu, “medical knife”)
→ Korean: 메스 (meseu, “medical knife”)
→ Loup A: meschu (from the diminutive form)
→ Malagasy: méso, mésa

Franco-Provençal

Determiner

mes

feminine plural of mon
Alternative form of mos, masculine plural of mon

French

Etymology

From Old French mes, from Latin meōs, meī and meās, meae.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /mɛ/, (in liaison) /mɛ.z‿/
IPA^(key): /me/, (in liaison) /me.z‿/
Audio: (file)

Determiner

mes pl

my (when referring to a plural noun)
Mes clés sont dans ma poche.
My keys are in my pocket.

Related terms

French possessive determiners

			Possessee
			singular		plural
			m	f	plural
Possessor	singular	1^st	mon¹	ma	mes
		2^nd	ton¹	ta	tes
		3^rd	son¹	sa	ses
	plural	1^st	notre		nos
		2^nd	votre²		vos²
		3^rd	leur		leurs

¹ Also used before feminine adjectives and nouns beginning with a vowel or mute h.

² Also used as the polite singular form.

For the singular persons there are gender-neutral neologisms man, tan, san. These are extremely rare.

Descendants

Louisiana Creole: mê

Galician

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese mes, from Latin mensis. Compare Portuguese mês and Spanish mes.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmes/ [ˈmes̺]
Rhymes: -es

Noun

mes m (plural meses)

month

References

Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “mes”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “mes”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “mes”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “mes”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Garo

Noun

mes

lamb

Gothic

Romanization

mes

Romanization of 𐌼𐌴𐍃

Indonesian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈmɛs]
Hyphenation: mès

Etymology 1

From Dutch mess (“mess”), from English mess, from Middle English mes, partly from Old English mēse, mēose (“table”); and partly from Old French mes, Late Latin missum, from mittō (“to put, place (e.g. on the table)”). Doublet of misa.

Noun

mès (first-person possessive mesku, second-person possessive mesmu, third-person possessive mesnya)

mess (hall)

Etymology 2

From English mesh, from Middle English mesche, from Old English masc (“net”) (perhaps influenced in form by related Old English mæscre (“mesh, spot”)) both from Proto-Germanic *maskrǭ, *maskwǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *mezg- (“to knit, twist, plait”).

Noun

mès (first-person possessive mesku, second-person possessive mesmu, third-person possessive mesnya)

(engineering) mesh, structure or opening.

Etymology 3

From Dutch mest (“manure”), from Middle Dutch mest, from Old Dutch *mist, from Proto-Germanic *mihstuz. Semantic loan from Dutch kunstmest (“artificial fertilizer”).

Noun

mès (first-person possessive mesku, second-person possessive mesmu, third-person possessive mesnya)

(colloquial) artificial fertilizer.

Etymology 4

From Dutch mes (“blade”), from Middle Dutch mets, mes, contraction of *metses, from Old Dutch *metisas, *metsas, from Proto-West Germanic *matisahs (“food knife”). Cognate of Japanese メス (mesu, “medical knife”) and Korean 메스 (meseu, “medical knife”).

Noun

mès (first-person possessive mesku, second-person possessive mesmu, third-person possessive mesnya)

(surgery, colloquial) scalpel, blade, medical knife.
Synonyms: bisturi, pisau bedah, pisau operasi, skalpel

Kemudian tampak fasia, diinsisi dengan memberikan mes no 22 dan dijepit dengan memberikan pinset cirurgis. ― Fascia appeared, incised with 22 blade and clamped with surgical forceps.

Berikan mes no 15 dan pinset chirurgi pada operator untuk insisi kulit sampai fasia. ― Give the blade 15 and surgical forceps to the operator for skin incision to the fascia.

Kalasha

Noun

mes

table

Ladino

Alternative forms

mez

Noun

mes m (Latin spelling, Hebrew spelling מיס)

month

Latgalian

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *mes. Cognates include Latvian mēs and Lithuanian mes.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈmʲæs]
Hyphenation: mes

Pronoun

mes

we

Declension

Declension of mes

	singular	plural
nominative	es	mes
genitive	mane, mani	myusu
dative	maņ	mums
accusative	mani	myus
locative	manī	myusūs

References

Nicole Nau (2011) A short grammar of Latgalian, München: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, page 35

Latvian

Pronoun

mes (personal, 1st person plural)

(dialectal, archaic) we; alternative form of mēs

Lithuanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /mʲæːs/

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Etymology 1

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *mes; compare Latvian mēs, Old Prussian mes, Proto-Slavic *my; akin to Old Armenian մեք (mekʻ). This form in m replaced Proto-Indo-European *wéy (“we”), probably after the 1st person plural verbal suffix -me. At the East-Baltic stage, the oblique forms were rebuilt by analogy with jūs. Compare the Old Prussian oblique forms nūsan, nūmans, and Old Church Slavonic насъ, намъ (nasŭ, namŭ), from *n̥s-, nos-.

Pronoun

mẽs

we (first-person plural pronoun)

Declension

declension of mes

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	àš	mùdu m, mùdvi f	mẽs
genitive	manę̃s	mùdviejų	mū́sų
dative	mán	mùdviem	mùms
accusative	manè	mùdu m, mùdvi f	mùs
instrumental	manimì, manim̃	mùdviem	mumìs
locative	manyjè, manỹ	mùdviese	mumysè

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

mès

third-person future indicative of mèsti

Lombard

Alternative forms

mis (Bergamasque)

Etymology

From Latin mensis (“month”). Compare French mois, Italian mese, Portuguese mês, Romansch main, Spanish mes.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /mez/

Noun

mes m (Milanese)

month

Megleno-Romanian

Etymology

From Latin mensis.

Noun

mes

month

Occitan

Etymology 1

From Old Occitan mes, from Latin mensis (“month”). Compare French mois, Italian mese, Portuguese mês, Romansch main, Spanish mes.

Noun

mes m (plural meses)

month

Etymology 2

Verb

mes

past participle of metre

Old English

Etymology

Uncertain. Perhaps derived from Proto-West Germanic *mihsu, the nominative/accusative plural of *mihs (“dung, excrement; urine”), reanalysed as a singular noun. Compare Old Frisian mēse (“urine”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /mes/

Noun

mes f

dung
(in the plural) fertiliser, manure

Declension

Declension of mes (strong ō-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	mes	mesa, mese
accusative	mese	mesa, mese
genitive	mese	mesa
dative	mese	mesum

Old French

Etymology 1

From Latin magis.

Alternative forms

mais

Conjunction

mes

but

Descendants

French: mais

Etymology 2

From Latin meōs, meī and meās, meae.

Determiner

mes m pl or f pl

my (first-person plural possessive)

Descendants

French: mes

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Latin mēnsis.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [mes]
Rhymes: -es
Hyphenation: mes

Noun

mes m (plural meses)

month
- 13th century CE, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, , cantiga 5 ([ facsimile]), lines 135–140:
  Muitos gafos sãou a Emperadriz en aquele mes;
  mas de grand' algo que porên lle davan ela ren non pres,
  mas andou en muitas romarías, e depois ben a tres
  meses entrou na cidade de Roma, u ér' o cortês
  Emperador, que a chamou e disso-lle: “Ves?
  Guári-m' est' irmão gaf', e dar-ch-ei grand' haver.”
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

Fala: mes
Galician: mes
Portuguese: mês

Old Irish

Noun

mes m

Alternative spelling of mess

Mutation

Mutation of *mes*
radical	lenition	nasalization
mes also mmes after a proclitic ending in a vowel	mes pronounced with /β̃(ʲ)-/	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Old Occitan

Etymology

From Latin mensis. Gallo-Romance cognate with Old French mois.

Noun

mes m (oblique plural mes, nominative singular mes, nominative plural mes)

month

Descendants

Occitan: mes

References

Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “mensis”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 6/1: Mabile–Mephitis, page 713

Old Prussian

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *wéy, with the initial m- appearing due to influence from the first-person verbal suffix and the first-person singular object pronoun. Cognate with Latvian mēs, Lithuanian mẽs, Proto-Slavic *my, Old Armenian մեք (mekʻ).

Pronoun

mes

we, the first person plural pronoun

Declension

See as for declension of mes.

References

Mažiulis, Vytautas (1988–1997) “mes”, in Prūsų kalbos etimologijos žodynas [Etymological dictionary of Old Prussian]‎^[1] (in Lithuanian), Vilnius
W. R. Schmalstieg (1971) “New Look at the Old Prussian Pronoun”, in Baltistica VII(2), Vilnius: Vilniau Universitetas

Portuguese

Noun

mes m (plural meses)

Obsolete spelling of mês.

Rohingya

Alternative forms

𐴔𐴠𐴏𐴢 (mes) — Hanifi Rohingya script

Etymology

From Persian [Term?].

Noun

mes (Hanifi spelling 𐴔𐴠𐴏𐴢)

table

Romansch

Adjective

mes m (feminine mia)

(possessive) my

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Latin mēnsis (“month”). Compare Catalan mes, Italian mese, Portuguese mês, Romansch mais.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmes/ [ˈmes]
- Audio (Peru): (file)
- Rhymes: -es
IPA^(key): (Murcia, Eastern Andalusia) [mɛː]
Syllabification: mes

Noun

mes m (plural meses)

month
Mi mes favorito es enero.
My favourite month is January.

Derived terms

llegar a fin de mes

Related terms

Sumerian

Romanization

mes

Romanization of 𒈩 (mes)

Swedish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /meːs/

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German mêse, meise, from Old Saxon mēsa, from Proto-West Germanic *maisā, from Proto-Germanic *maisǭ. Cognate to Norwegian Bokmål meis, meise and Norwegian Nynorsk meis, meise.

Noun

mes c

a tit (genus Parus), a small bird

Declension

Declension of mes

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	mes	mes
singular	definite	mesen	mesens
plural	indefinite	mesar	mesars
plural	definite	mesarna	mesarnas

Related terms

blåmes
mesig (“wimpy”)
stjärtmes

Etymology 2

From Old Swedish mes, mese, likely derived from a verb cognate of Icelandic meita (“cut, chop”). Cognate to Norwegian Bokmål meis and Norwegian Nynorsk meis.

Noun

mes c

the metal frame of a backpack

Declension

Declension of mes

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	mes	mes
singular	definite	mesen	mesens
plural	indefinite	mesar	mesars
plural	definite	mesarna	mesarnas

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) Cognate to Norwegian meis and Dutch miezel.

Noun

mes c

(colloquial, derogatory) a wimp, a wuss, a coward

Declension

Declension of mes

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	mes	mes
singular	definite	mesen	mesens
plural	indefinite	mesar	mesars
plural	definite	mesarna	mesarnas

Zoogocho Zapotec

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish mesa, from Latin mēnsa.

Noun

mes

table

References

Long C., Rebecca, Cruz M., Sofronio (2000) Diccionario zapoteco de San Bartolomé Zoogocho, Oaxaca (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 38)‎^[3] (in Spanish), second electronic edition, Coyoacán, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 255

	first	second	third (a.)		third (l.)
	first	second	m	f	m	f
singular	es	tu	jis	jei	šys	šei
plural	mes	jius	jī	juos	šī	šuos

	singular (vienaskaita)				dual (dviskaita)						plural (daugiskaita)				reflexive (sangrąžiniai)
	1st person (pirmasis asmuo)	2nd person (antrasis asmuo)	3rd person (trečiasis asmuo)		1st person		2nd person		3rd person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person
	1st person (pirmasis asmuo)	2nd person (antrasis asmuo)	m	f	m	f	m	f	m	f	1st person	2nd person	m	f
nominative (vardininkas)	àš	tù	jìs, jisaĩ	jì, jinaĩ	mùdu	mùdvi	jùdu	jùdvi	juõdu, jiẽdu	jiẽdvi	mẽs	jū̃s	jiẽ	jõs	-
genitive (kilmininkas)	manę̃s	tavę̃s	jõ	jõs	mùdviejų		jùdviejų		jų̃dviejų		mū́sų	jū́sų	jų̃		savę̃s
dative (naudininkas)	mán	táu	jám	jái	mùdviem		jùdviem		jõdviem		mùms	jùms	jíems	jóms	sáu
accusative (galininkas)	manè	tavè	jį̃	ją̃	mùdu	mùdvi	jùdu	jùdvi	juõdu	jiẽdvi	mùs	jùs	juõs	jàs	savè
instrumental (įnagininkas)	manimì, manim̃	tavimì, tavim̃	juõ	jà	mùdviem		jùdviem		jõdviem		mumìs	jumìs	jaĩs	jomìs	savimì, savim̃
locative (vietininkas)	manyjè, manỹ	tavyjè, tavỹ	jamè	jojè	mùdviese		jùdviese		jiẽdviese		mumysè	jumysè	juosè	josè	savyjè, savỹ

possessive (savybiniai)	màno	tàvo	jõ	jõs	mùdviejų		jùdviejų		jų̃dviejų		mū́sų	jū́sų	jų̃		sàvo

English

Noun

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Descendants

Albanian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Noun

Declension

Derived terms

See also

Aragonese

Etymology

Noun

References

Aromanian

Etymology

Noun

Synonyms

Asturian

Etymology

Noun

Atong (India)

Etymology

Noun

References

Catalan

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Adverb

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Participle

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

Determiner

References

Cornish

Etymology 1

Noun

Adverb

Etymology 2

Noun

Etymology 3

Conjunction

Dutch

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Descendants

Franco-Provençal

Determiner

French

Etymology

Pronunciation

Determiner

Related terms

Descendants

Further reading

Galician

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

References

Garo

Noun

Gothic

Romanization