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mao

noun

Simple meaning

The ma'oma'o, Gymnomyza samoensis, a large passerine bird native to Samoa.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

mow
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈmaʊ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The ma'oma'o, Gymnomyza samoensis, a large passerine bird native to Samoa.

  2. chess

    A fairy chess piece which moves identically to the xiangqi horse, moving one square orthogonally and then one square diagonally at a 135 degree angle. Similar to the chess knight, but has more limited movement as its movement can be obstructed by an intervening piece.

  3. A common surname from Chinese, from Mandarin, usually referring to Mao Zedong.

  4. A card game, named after Mao Zedong, in which players attempt to shed all their cards without violating certain unspoken rules.

  5. A branch of the Omotic languages spoken in Ethiopia.

  6. A Sino-Tibetan language.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Formality
Technical

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

chairman maocomrade maomao chinamao eramao tun

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • mao jacketnounCompound term

    A light weight jacket with a high collar.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: ma'oma'o or Gymnomyza samoensis

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.