ကျွန်ုပ်

Burmese

Etymology

Contraction of ကျွန် နုပ် (kywan nup, literally “small/trivial slave”)

Pronunciation

• Phonetic respelling: ကျ'နုပ်
• IPA^(key): /t͡ɕənoʊʔ/
• Romanization: MLCTS: kywanုပ် • ALA-LC: kyvanʻုပ် • BGN/PCGN: kyănok • Okell: cănouʔ

Pronoun

ကျွန်ုပ် • (kywanup)

1. (informal) I, me

See also

Burmese personal pronouns

Burmese	Person	Level of speech	Remarks
ငါ (nga)	First	Informal	used when speaking to one's equals or inferiors
ကျွန်တော် (kywantau)	First	Formal	used by males
ကျွန်မ (kywanma.)	First	Formal	used by females
ကျွန်ုပ်	First	Informal
ကျုပ် (kyup)	First	Informal
နင် (nang)	Second	Informal	used when speaking to one's equals or inferiors
မင်း (mang:)	Second	Informal	used when speaking to one's equals or inferiors
ညည်း (nyany:)	Second	Informal	used by females when addressing another female of same age or one younger
တော် (tau)	Second	Informal	used by females
ခင်ဗျား (hkangbya:)	Second	Formal	used by males
ရှင် (hrang)	Second	Formal	used by females
သင် (sang), အသင် (a.sang)	Second	Formal
သူ (su)	Third
သင်း (sang:)	Third
ချင်း (hkyang:)	Third

Further reading

• “ကျွန်ုပ်” in Myanmar–English Dictionary (Myanmar Language Commission 1993). Searchable online at SEAlang.net.