momo

See also: Appendix:Variations of "momo"

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈməʊməʊ/, enPR: mō'mō

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Etymology 1

A plate of momo from Nepal

From Tibetan མོག་མོག (mog mog), from Mandarin 饃饃／馍馍 (mómo).

Noun

momo (plural momos or momo)

1. A type of dumpling from Nepal, Ladakh or Tibet made with a simple flour and water dough and filled with meat, vegetables or cheese.
   • 2007 July 1, “Far East of the U.N.”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Many dishes show a direct influence of China or India; for example, momos, or Tibetan dumplings, look like Chinese pot-stickers.

   • 2022 January 25, Christina Morales, “How the Air Fryer Crisped Its Way Into America’s Heart”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     She heated handpies and tofu in her off-campus apartment, and at her home in India, she heats momos, dehydrates mangoes and cooks whole, shelled peanuts.

2. (India, slang, offensive) A person from Northeast India.
   • 2017 May 23, Alana Golmei, “Let’s talk about racism”, in Hindustan Times, Delhi:

     Since I come from the North-eastern part of India myself and belong to a minority race, I too have suffered from racism, at least in its milder forms. I’ve been called "chinky", "momo", "chowmein", and more.

   • 2021 June 9, “Northeast Indians DISRESPECTED once again with 'momo' slur”, in India Today Northeast:

     Now, it is a well-known fact that many Northeast Indians are derogatorily called 'momos' after the dish by mainland Indians for their round-ish features.

Alternative forms

• mo-mo

Translations

type of dumpling

• Assamese: মম (mom)
• Belarusian: мо́ма (móma)
• Bengali: মোমো (mōmō)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 饃饃／馍馍 (mómo)

• Dutch: momo (nl)
• Dzongkha: མོ་མོ (mo mo)
• Finnish: momo, momo-nyytti
• French: momo (fr)
• German: Momo
• Hindi: मोमो m (momo)
• Hungarian: momo (hu)
• Japanese: モモ (ja) (momo)
• Kyrgyz: момо (momo)
• Ladakhi: མོག་མོག (mog mog)
• Nepali: मोःमो (moḥmo), मोमो (momo), मःम (maḥma), मम (mama), मोःमोः (moḥmoḥ), मोमोः (momoḥ), मःमः (maḥmaḥ), ममः (mamaḥ), मम (mam)
• Newar: मम (mama)
• Polish: momo (pl)
• Portuguese: momo (pt) m
• Russian: мо́мо (mómo)
• Spanish: momo
• Swedish: momos
• Thai: โมโม (mo-mo)
• Tibetan: མོག་མོག (mog mog)
• Turkish: momo
• Ukrainian: момо (momo)

Etymology 2

Clipping and reduplication of moron.

Noun

momo (plural momos)

1. (US, slang, derogatory) A moron.
   • 1995, Nicholas Pileggi, Martin Scorsese, Casino, spoken by Ace (Robert De Niro):

     The probability on one-four-reel machine is a million and a half to one. On three machines in a row, it's in the billions. It cannot happen… would not happen, you fuckin' momo!

Further reading

• Momo (food) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “momo n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
• Eric Partridge (2005) “momo”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 2 (J–Z), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1310.

Adangme

Adverb

momo

1. already

Äiwoo

Verb

momo

1. to chew (in order to swallow)

See also

• mabe

References

• Ross, M. & Næss, Å. (2007) “An Oceanic origin for Äiwoo, the language of the Reef Islands?”, in Oceanic Linguistics, volume 46, number 2. Cited in: "Äiwoo" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.

Hopi

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

momo (plural momòot)

1. bee

Derived terms

• Momo
• momohepto
• Momokatsina
• momosavìipi
• momospala
• momotsìipu
• momòohepto
• momòoki
• momòotsama

 

References

• Albert, Roy, Shaul, David Leedom (1985) A Concise Hopi and English Lexicon, John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 40
• Hopi Dictionary Project, The (1998) Hopi Dictionary: Hopìikwa Lavàytutuveni: A Hopi Dictionary of the Third Mesa Dialect with an English-Hopi Finder List and a Sketch of Hopi Grammar, Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, page 244

Japanese

Romanization

momo

1. Rōmaji transcription of もも

Kholosi

Etymology

From Sanskrit माम (māma, “uncle”).

Noun

momo m

1. (family) maternal uncle

References

• Eric Anonby, Hassan Mohebi Bahmani (2014) “Shipwrecked and Landlocked: Kholosi, an Indo-Aryan Language in South-west Iran”, in Cahier de Studia Iranica xx‎^[3], pages 13-36

Maori

Noun

momo

1. a type, a kind, a species, a breed, a variety, a race, a genre

Further reading

• momo entry at the online Māori Dictionary

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmõ.mu/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmõ.mu/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmo.mo/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmo.mu/

• Hyphenation: mo‧mo

Noun

momo m (plural momos)

1. King Momo (character representing the king of carnival in Latin America)
2. momo

Spanish

Etymology

Uncertain:

• from Vulgar Latin *mōmus, from Ancient Greek Μῶμος (Mômos, “god of satire and mockery”), from μῶμος (mômos);
• from an imitative Proto-Germanic root, whence Dutch mom (“mask”), German Mumme (“mask”) - see mummer.
• from Old French momer (“to wear a mask”), related to momon (“mask”), from an child's word expressing astonishment. Compare English mum.

Cognate to Portuguese momo, Aragonese momo, Catalan mom, French momon (“mask”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmomo/ [ˈmo.mo]
• Rhymes: -omo
• Syllabification: mo‧mo

Noun

momo m (plural momos)

1. funny face; silly face
2. alternative/ironic spelling of meme

Further reading

• “momo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Tagalog

Etymology

From apparent reduplication of the first syllable of multo.

Noun

momo (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜓᜋᜓ)

1. Alternative form of mumo