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me

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From Middle English me, from Old English (me, originally dative, but later also accusative, supplanting accusative mec), from Proto-West Germanic *miʀ, from Proto-Germanic *miz (me), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁me- (me).

Pronunciation

Pronoun

me (first-person singular pronoun, referring to the speaker)

  1. The first-person singular, as the object (of a verb, preposition, etc).
    1. As the object (direct or indirect) of a verb.
      Can you hear me?
      He gave me this.
    2. (archaic, proscribed) Myself; as a reflexive direct object of a verb.
    3. (colloquial, proscribed) Myself; as a reflexive indirect object of a verb; the ethical dative.
      • 1993 April, Harper's Magazine:
        When I get to college, I'm gonna get me a white Nissan Sentra.
    4. As the object of a preposition.
      Come with me.
  2. (sometimes proscribed) As the complement of the copula (be).
    Who said that? —(It was) not me.
    • 2017, Theresa May, “Andrew Neil interviews Theresa May: full transcript”, in The Spectator, archived from the original on 22 May 2017:
      It's either me or Jeremy Corbyn.
  3. Used for the pronoun in isolation or in apposition.
    Who's there?Me.
    Who did this?Me. I did it. (≈ It was me. I did it.)
  4. (nonstandard or proscribed) I, the first-person singular, as the subject.
    1. (informal, with a conjunction, often proscribed) As the subject of a verb.
      Me and my friends played a game.
      [It was] literally all me and my astrophysicist colleagues could talk about.
      Stella and me have opted to take a course called ‘Autobiography and Fiction’.
      • 2025 June 14, Anna Holmes, “Wait, People Are Bringing Their Whole Family to Job Interviews?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
        An employee was recently discussing her weekend on our Monday Zoom call (we go around the Zoom and share what we did over the weekend). She said, “Me and her went to the movies on Saturday night." I couldn’t contain it. I immediately responded with “X and I went to the movies on Saturday night, me and her never do anything, me can’t.”
    2. (nonstandard, not with a conjunction) As the subject of a verb. Sometimes used to indicate or imitate limited English fluency.
      • 1844, Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, volume II:
        One of them, whose sobriquet was Big-headed Blackboy, was stretched out before the fire, and no answer could be obtained from him, but a drawling repetition, in grunts of displeasure, of "Bel (not) me want to go.
      • 1899 July 20, Mrs. A[lexander] J[effrey] McKelway [i.e., Lavinia Rutherford McKelway], “Children’s Department”, in A[lexander] J[effrey] McKelway, editor, Presbyterian Standard, volume XLI, number 28, Charlotte, N.C.: The Presbyterian Publishing Company, page 14, column 1:
        Well he said me mustn’t eat ’nanas cause ’nanas would make me sick.
      • 2005 October 10, Michael Chapman; Matthew Chapman, “Teen Girl Squad Issue #10”, in Homestar Runner, spoken by Strong Bad (Matthew Chapman):
        Whoa! That was about the coolest thing ever! Me gotta see that again.
    3. (nonstandard, in apposition) Would be the subject of a copula in standard English, though the copula is omitted; used to indicate or imitate limited English fluency.
      • 1932 June, Katherine Albert, “Hey! Hey! Here Comes Johnny”, in James R. Quirk, editor, Photoplay, volume XLII, number 1, Chicago, Ill.: Photoplay Publishing Company, page 119, column 2:
        “I should stick to Tarzan,” he [Johnny Weissmuller] explains. “You see, I’m no actor. Well, I didn’t have to act in ‘Tarzan, the Ape Man’—just said, ‘Me Tarzan, you Jane.’ I'll never be able to act.”
        The words do not occur in the film itself, nor in the original book by Burroughs. Instead, Tarzan says “Tarzan” and “Jane” repeatedly.
      • 1954 February 3, Mrs. John F. Underhill, “The Last Leaf” (Chapter Three: Bear Tracks), in Lawrence Maxwell, editor, Junior Guide, volume 2, number 5, Washington, D.C., page 7, column 2:
        May opened the door, and a huge Indian walked into the room. “Me Bear Tracks,” he said. “Me hungry.”
Usage notes
This section or entry lacks references or sources. Please help verify this information by adding appropriate citations. You can also discuss it at the Tea Room.

Me is traditionally described as the objective pronoun, meaning it is used as the object of verbs and prepositions, while the subjective pronoun I should be used as the subject of verbs. However, "objective" pronouns are widely used as the subject of verbs in colloquial speech when they are accompanied by a conjunction, for example, "me and her are friends". This usage is traditionally considered incorrect, and "she and I are friends" is the prescriptive construction.

Using me as the lone subject of a verb (without a conjunction, e.g. "me want", "me like") is a feature of various types of both pidgin English and that of infant English-learners, and is sometimes used by speakers of standard English for jocular effect (e.g. "me likee", "me wantee").

Although in some dialects 'me' is also used as a possessive, in writing, speakers of these dialects usually write my. In those dialects, when "my" is emphasized as in "it's MY turn." it is not pronounced like 'me'.

Some prescriptivists object to the use of me following the verb be, as in "It wasn't me". The phrase "It was not I" is prescribed as correct, though this may be seen as extreme and used for jocular effect.

Synonyms
  • (subject of a verb): I; my ass (vulgar)
  • (complement of the copula): I
  • (indirect object): us (Australia, UK)
  • (marking ownership): my; mine (archaic)
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Bislama: mi
  • Jamaican Creole: mi
  • Nigerian Pidgin: mi
  • Pijin: mi
  • Sranan Tongo: mi
Translations

Noun

me (plural mes)

  1. The self or personality of the speaker, especially their authentic self.
    Synonym: I
    • 1871, George MacDonald, “[At the Back of the North Wind] Out in the Storm”, in Harry Thurston Peck, Frank R[ichard] Stockton, Julian Hawthorne, editors, Masterpieces of the World’s Literature, Ancient and Modern: The Great Authors of the World with Their Master Productions, volume XIV, New York, N.Y.: American Literary Society, published 1899, pages 7514–7515:
      “Quite easily. Here you are taking care of a poor little boy with one arm, and there you are sinking a ship with the other. It can’t be like you.” “Ah, but which is me? I can’t be two mes, you know.” “No. Nobody can be two mes.” “Well, which me is me?” “Now I must think. There looks to be two.” “Yes. That’s the very point—You can’t be knowing the thing you don’t know, can you?” “No.” “Which me do you know?” “The kindest, goodest, best me in the world,” answered Diamond, clinging to North Wind. [] “Do you know the other me as well?” “No. I can’t. I shouldn’t like to.” “There it is. You don’t know the other me. You are sure of one of them?” “Yes.” “And you are sure there can’t be two mes?” “Yes.” “Then the me you don’t know must be the same as the me you do know—else there would be two mes?” “Yes.” “Then the other me you don’t know must be as kind as the me you do know?
    • 1948 January, Rog Phillips [pseudonym; Roger Phillip Graham], “Hate”, in Amazing Stories, volume 22, number 1, Chicago, Ill.: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, page 69, column 2:
      The question seems unanswerable, because if those same atoms were to be collected as they leave my body as waste in the normal process of metabolism, and in a year when my body contained all new atoms, those old atoms which were me a year ago were reformed into an exact replica of me down to the last thought and cell, would there be two mes?
    • 1990, Bei Dao [pseudonym; Zhao Zhenkai], translated by Bonnie S. McDougall and Susette Ternent Cooke, Waves, New York, N.Y.: New Directions Publishing, →ISBN, page 158:
      “In these last few days I keep feeling that I’m changing, changing into something I don’t quite recognize myself.” / “You’ve become more like yourself.” / “Could there be two mes?/ “Perhaps more than two.” / “It gets worse and worse. So which me do you actually love ?/ “All of them.” / “You’re being slippery.” Her lips curled slyly. “In fact you only love the me in your mind’s eye, and that me doesn’t exist, right?/ “No, that’s the combination of all the yous.” / She laughed. “It’s just as complicated as a mathematical calculation, if you end up with the three-headed, six-armed me, could you stand that?

Etymology 2

Variant form.

Determiner

me

  1. (UK regional, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Alternative form of my.
    • a. 1918, Wilfred Owen, “The Letter”, in Douglas Kerr, editor, The Works of Wilfred Owen, page 54:
      There don't seem much to say just now. / (Yer what? Then don't, yer ruddy cow! / And give us back me cigarette!)
    • 1994, John Hodge, Shallow Grave, spoken by Alex Law (Ewan McGregor):
      I want me money back!
    • 1995, Nick Park, A Close Shave:
      Get off me cheese! Get off! Get off!
    • 2016, Alan Moore, Jerusalem, Liveright, page 99:
      "What have I ever done to prove me worth, or where I could at least say as I'd made a difference?"
Translations

Etymology 3

From mi (third note of a major scale) + -e (flat), from Glover's solmization, Italian mi in the solmization of Guido of Arezzo, from the first syllable of Latin mīra in the lyrics of the scale-ascending hymn Ut queant laxis by Paulus Deacon.

Noun

me

  1. (music) The solfeggio syllable used to indicate the flat of the third note of a major scale.

See also

More information personal pronoun, possessivepronoun ...

References

Anagrams

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Abau

Particle

me

  1. marks an object as plural

Interjection

me

  1. of course

Adverb

me

  1. in a manner that leaves something behind or left over
  2. actually, as a matter of fact

Verb

me

  1. to speak

Conjugation

More information imperfective, perfective ...

References

  • Abau Dictionary © 2020 SIL International (Available online: )
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Akan

Pronoun

me

  1. I
    Mete Twi kasa.
    I speak Twi.

Albanian

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Proto-Albanian *me(t). Cognate to Ancient Greek μετά (metá, after, beyond; in the middle, between), Gothic miþ (with), Old Norse með.

Preposition

me (+ accusative)

  1. with (accompanied by)
    Shkoj me tim vëlla.
    I'm going with my brother.
  2. with (possessing)
    E sheh djalin me sytë e kaltër?
    Do you see the guy with blue eyes?
  3. with (by means of)
    Preferoj të shkruaj me penë.
    I prefer to write with a pen.

Etymology 2

From Proto-Indo-European *manu, compare Ancient Greek μανός (manós, thin), Old Armenian մանր (manr, small). Alternatively it could represent a continuation of Proto-Indo-European *mṇi̯ō, to be compared with Latin minuō (lessen), Proto-Slavic *mьnь (smaller) and the like.

Adjective

me (feminine mee)

  1. insufficient, scanty, not full
Derived terms
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Angloromani

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Romani me.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

me

  1. I
    Synonyms: mandi, tutti

Annobonese

Etymology

From Portuguese mãe (mother).

Noun

me

  1. mother

References

  • John H. McWhorter (2005), Defining Creole (in Annobonese)

Aragonese

Etymology

From Latin me. Akin to Spanish me and French me.

Pronoun

me

  1. First-person singular dative, accusative and prepositional pronoun; me

Usage notes

  • Takes the form m' before verbs beginning with vowel sounds.

See also

More information nominative, disjunctive ...
  1. The forms shown in the table are the most widespread ones. Some varieties use different forms:
    1. nusotros/as (Ansotano, Cheso, Somontanos) and nusaltros/as (Benasquese and Belsetán).
    2. usté(s) (Benasquese), ustet(z) (Ansotano), vustet(z) (Tensino, Somontanos)
    3. vusotros/as (Ansotano, Cheso, Somontanos) and vusaltros/as (Benasquese and Belsetán).
    4. ell(s) (Benasquese) and er(s) (Belsetán).
    5. era(s) (Belsetán).
    6. mos (Ribagorçan). Before third-person pronouns and the adverbial pronoun en the contracted form mo' is used.
    7. li(s) (Cheso, Tensino).
    8. el (Ribagorçan). The contracted form l' is used before verbs beginning with vowel sounds and 'l after pronouns ending in vowels and no (no, not).
    9. es, els (Ribagorçan). These forms are contracted to 's and 'ls after pronouns ending in vowels and no (no, not).
  2. The contracted forms are used before verbs beginning with vowel sounds.
  3. In Ribagorçan the contracted form to' is used before third-person pronouns and the adverbial pronoun en.
More information This entry is still in development. ...

References

  • me”, in Aragonario, diccionario castellano–aragonés (in Spanish)
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Asturian

Alternative forms

  • m' (before a vowel)

Etymology

From Latin , accusative singular of ego. As an indirect pronoun, possibly in part from Latin mihi (dative singular of ego), through a Vulgar Latin *mi.

Pronoun

me

  1. me (first-person singular direct pronoun)
  2. me (first-person singular indirect pronoun)

Atong (India)

Alternative forms

Etymology

From English [Term?] (May).

Pronunciation

Noun

me (Bengali script মে)

  1. May

Synonyms

References

Breton

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *mi, from Proto-Celtic *, from Proto-Indo-European *me (me). Cognate to Welsh mi.

Pronoun

me

  1. I, me

See also

More information singular, plural ...

Carolinian

Conjunction

me

  1. and

Catalan

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin (accusative of ego).

Pronunciation

Pronoun

me (enclitic, contracted 'm, proclitic em, contracted proclitic m')

  1. me (direct or indirect object)
Usage notes
  • -me is the full (plena) form of the pronoun. It is normally used after verbs ending with a consonant or ⟨u⟩, or between some adverbs/pronouns and a verb. In some varieties of Catalan (Balearic/Valencian) it can also occur in sentence-initial position.
    Segueix-me!Follow me!
    Tant me fa. (after adverb)I don't care.
    Me sembla que… (sentence-initial, nonstandard)It seems that…
Declension
More information strong/subject, weak (direct object) ...

1 Behaves grammatically as plural. 2 Behaves grammatically as third person.
3 Only as object of a preposition. 4 Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Noun

me f (uncountable)

  1. (colloquial, childish, euphemistic) poo

Chuukese

Conjunction

me

  1. and

Preposition

me

  1. from

Cimbrian

Article

me

  1. (Sette Comuni) the; definite article for two declensions:
    1. dative singular masculine
    2. dative singular neuter

See also

More information singular, plural ...

References

  • “me” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974), Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

Cornish

Alternative forms

  • my (Standard Cornish, Standard Written Form)

Pronoun

me

  1. (Standard Cornish) I, me

Dutch

Pronunciation

Pronoun

me

  1. unstressed form of mij (me)
    Kun je me zien?Can you see me?
  2. myself; first-person singular reflexive pronoun
    Ik was me.I wash myself.

Declension

1) Not as common in written language.
2) Inflected as an adjective.
3) In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative).
4) In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative).
5) Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions.
6) To differentiate from the singular gij, gelle (object form elle) and variants are commonly used colloquially in Belgium. Archaic forms are gijlieden and gijlui ("you people").
7) Zich is preferred if the reflexive pronoun immediately follows the subject pronoun u, e.g. Meldt u zich aan! 'Log in!', and if the subject pronoun u is used with a verb form that is identical with the third person singular but different from the informal second person singular, e.g. U heeft zich aangemeld. 'You have logged in.' Only u can be used in an imperative if the subject pronoun is not overt, e.g. Meld u aan! 'Log in!', where u is the reflexive pronoun. Otherwise, both u and zich are equally possible, e.g. U meldt u/zich aan. 'You log in.'
8) Not officially recognized in standard Dutch. It has gained popularity, especially in mainstream media and queer circles, as a respectful term for non-binary individuals.

Pronoun

me (dependent possessive)

  1. pronunciation spelling of mijn (my)

Estonian

Etymology

Short form of meie, from Proto-Finnic *mek.

Pronoun

me (genitive me, partitive meid)

  1. we

Declension

More information Declension of, 1st person ...

See also

More information singular, plural ...

Fala

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese me, from Latin .

Pronoun

me

  1. First person singular dative and accusative pronoun; me

Usage notes

  • Takes the form -mi when suffixed to an impersonal verb form.

See also

More information nominative, dative ...

Dialects: L Lagarteiru M Mañegu V Valverdeñu

References

  • Valeš, Miroslav (2021), Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web), 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN, page 197

Finnish

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *mek, from Proto-Uralic *me. The word is inflected as plural, but there is no plural marker in the nominative, except in dialects (met).

Pronunciation

Pronoun

me

  1. we
    Me emme unohda. We will not forget.
    Näin meidän kesken... Just between us...
    Mennäänkö meille? Should we go over to our place?

Usage notes

  • When the verb shows both the person and the number, the pronoun may be left out in written Finnish and is usually only used for emphasis. However, the inflected forms are often used. In colloquial Finnish, the pronoun is almost always used, even with a verb. (compare the usage of minä (I)).
  • See this appendix for information on the dialectal variants of me.

Inflection

  • Irregular (inflectional stem mei-, as if in the plural). The comitative and instructive forms don't exist; the abessive is hardly used.
  • In addition to the standard set of cases, me and the other personal pronouns have a specific accusative form, meidät.
More information noun case, singular ...

Synonyms

Derived terms

compounds

Descendants

See also

More information first, second ...

Further reading

  • me”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004, retrieved 3 July 2023

Anagrams

French

Etymology

From Middle French me, from Old French me, from Latin (accusative of ego), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁me- (me). Northern dialects have preserved a form mi for the indirect object (also found in Old French in the Oaths of Strasbourg), from Latin mihi, dative singular of ego, through a Vulgar Latin *mi, whereas in standard French, it has merged into me.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

me (personal, objective case)

  1. me (direct object)
    Est-ce que tu me vois ?Do you see me?
  2. to me (indirect object)
    Émilien m'a donné un peu d'argent.Émilien gave some money to me.
More information number, person ...

1 The disjunctive (tonic) forms are also used after an explicit preposition (de/d’, à, pour, chez, dans, vers, sur, sous, ...), instead the accusative, dative, genitive, locative, or reflexive forms, where a preposition is implied.
2 Il is also used as an impersonal nominative-only pronoun.
3 On can also function as a first person plural (although agreeing with third person singular verb forms).
4 The nominal indeterminate form ce (demonstrative) can also be used with the auxiliary verb être as a plural, instead of the proximal or distal gendered forms.
5 The reflexive third person singular forms (se or s’) for accusative or dative are also used as third person plural reflexive.
6 Vous is also used as the polite singular form, in which case the plural disjunctive tonic vous-mêmes becomes singular vous-même.
7 Ils, eux and eux-mêmes are also used when a group has a mixture of masculine and feminine members.

Further reading

Galician

Pronoun

me

  1. inflection of eu:
    1. accusative/dative
    2. reflexive

Gullah

Alternative forms

  • (as determiner) muh

Etymology

From English me.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /miː/, (as determiner) /mə/

Determiner

me

  1. (first person singular) my

Inflection

More information Numbuh, Adjectival ...

1 alternate spelling

Pronoun

me

  1. (first person singular object-oblique case) me

Inflection

More information Number, singular ...

1 alternate spelling

References

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French mai (May).

Pronunciation

Noun

me

  1. May

Hawaiian

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian [Term?]. Cognate with Maori me (and, with, must) and Samoan ma (and, with).

Pronunciation

Preposition

me

  1. with

Icelandic

Pronunciation

Interjection

me

  1. baa (representing the bleating sound sheep make)

Ido

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From English me, French me, Italian me, Spanish me, from Proto-Indo-European *(e)me-, *(e)me-n- (me).

Pronoun

me (first-person singular)

  1. I, me
    Me es tre felica.
    I am very happy.
    Ka vu parolas a me?
    Are you talking to me?
Derived terms
  • mea (“my, mine”)
See also
More information singular, plural ...
  • The possessive plurals are seldom used.
  • The shortened forms are preferred.
  • The pangendered forms are preferred to the gendered or neuter forms in most scenarios.

Etymology 2

From m + -e.

Noun

me (plural me-i)

  1. The name of the Latin script letter M/m.
See also

Istriot

Etymology

From Latin , accusative singular of ego.

Pronoun

me

  1. objective of i; me; to me
    • 1877, Antonio Ive, Canti popolari istriani: raccolti a Rovigno, volume 5, Ermanno Loescher, page 40:
      Ti me pari oûna dea infra li dai,
      You seem to me a goddess among the gods,

Italian

Etymology

From Latin .

Pronunciation

  • (standard, clitic) IPA(key): /me/°
    • Hyphenation: me
  • (standard, disjunctive) IPA(key): /ˈme/*
    • Rhymes: -e
    • Hyphenation:
  • As a clitic pronoun used before another clitic, it is pronounced unstressed and without syntactic gemination of the following consonant, e.g. me ne vado (I'm going away) /me ne ˈvado/. As a disjunctive pronoun used after a preposition, it is pronounced stressed and with syntactic gemination, e.g. a me piace (I like him/her/it) /a‿mˌme‿pˈpjatʃe/ (since a also triggers syntactic gemination).

Pronoun

me (personal, objective case)

  1. (disjunctive, emphatic) me
    (Lui/Lei) non piace a me. / A me non piace (lui/lei).(He/She) does not appeal to me, i.e. I don't like him/her.
    (Lui/Lei) piace a me. / A me piace (lui/lei).(He/She) appeals to me, i.e. I like him/her.
    A me e lui piace lei.She appeals (both) to me and to him, i.e. he and I (both) like her.

Pronoun

me

  1. (clitic) alternative form of mi

Usage notes

  • Used when followed by a third-person direct object clitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).

See also

More information Number, Person ...

Jamaican Creole

Pronoun

me

  1. alternative spelling of mi

Japanese

Romanization

me

  1. The hiragana syllable (me) or the katakana syllable (me) in Hepburn romanization.

Jingpho

Etymology

Borrowed from Burmese မဲ (mai:, mai:).

Noun

me

  1. ballot

References

  • Kurabe, Keita (31 December 2016), “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, in Kyoto University Linguistic Research, volume 35, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 91–128

Kapampangan

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈme/ [ˈmɛ]
  • Hyphenation: me

Pronoun

me

  1. alternative spelling of muya
  2. alternative spelling of mu
More information absolute, ergative ...

Kein

Noun

me

  1. louse

Further reading

Khasi

Pronunciation

Pronoun

me

  1. you (singular and masculine), thou

See also

More information singular, plural ...

References

  • Bars, E. (1973), “me”, in Khasi-English Dictionary, Shillong, Meghalaya: Don Bosco Press

Ladino

Latin

Lolopo

Mandarin

Maori

Mauritian Creole

Mbya Guarani

Mengen

Middle English

Middle French

Nalca

Nauruan

Naxi

Neapolitan

Norman

North Frisian

Northern Kurdish

Northern Qiang

Norwegian Nynorsk

Old English

Old French

Old Irish

Pali

Paraguayan Guarani

Pennsylvania German

Polish

Portuguese

Romani

Romanian

Sassarese

Scots

Scottish Gaelic

Serbo-Croatian

Slovene

Spanish

Sumerian

Swedish

Tagalog

Turkish

Vietnamese

West Makian

White Hmong

Yola

Zazaki

Zou

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