冇

冇 (Kangxi radical 13, 冂+2, 4 strokes, cangjie input 大月 (KB) or X大月 (XKB), four-corner 4022₇, composition ⿸𠂇冂)

• KangXi: not present, would follow page 128, character 35
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 96, character 17
• Unihan data for U+5187

From the removal of the two inner strokes from 有 (“to have”).

From 無 (MC mɨo, “to not have”), fused with 有 (MC ɦɨu^X, “to have”) (Schuessler, 2007).

冇

1. (dialectal Mandarin, Cantonese, dialectal Gan, Hakka, dialectal Wu, Xiang) to not have; to not exist

   • 你冇女朋友？梗係唔信啦！……或者有。你唔知啫。 [Cantonese, trad.]
     你冇女朋友？梗系唔信啦！……或者有。你唔知啫。 [Cantonese, simp.]

     From: 陳慧嫻, 紅茶館

     nei⁵ mou⁵ neoi⁵ pang⁴ jau⁵? gang² hai⁶ m⁴ seon³ laa¹!...... waak⁶ ze² jau⁵. nei⁵ m⁴ zi¹ ze¹. [Jyutping]

     You don't have a girlfriend? Of course I don't believe you! ... Maybe you do have one, but you just don't know it.

   冇理由㗎。 [Cantonese]  ―  mou⁵ lei⁵ jau⁴ gaa³. [Jyutping]  ―  Impossible.

2. (dialectal Mandarin, Cantonese, Xiang) have not; did not (do something) (indicating non-completion of a verb)

   我冇同佢講。／我冇同佢讲。 [Cantonese]  ―  ngo⁵ mou⁵ tung⁴ keoi⁵ gong². [Jyutping]  ―  I did not tell him.

   佢幾個月都冇嚟。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   佢几个月都冇嚟。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   keoi⁵ gei² go³ jyut⁶ dou¹ mou⁵ lai⁴. [Jyutping]

   He hasn't come for a few months.

3. (dialectal Cantonese, Nanning Pinghua) not (negator)

• Originally from Cantonese, many Mandarin speakers now understand the meaning of this character.

Compare Saek [script needed] (phoong^C2, “hollow; hole (in a tree, bamboo)”), Proto-Bahnaric *pɔːŋ (“hollow; flattened”) (Schuessler, 2007).

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

冇

1. (Min, Hakka) empty; hollow; spongy; not sturdy

   冇柴 [Hokkien]  ―  phàⁿ-chhâ [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  porous wood

2. (Min, Hakka) unreliable; undependable; casual
3. (Min Nan) extravagant; generous

   冇手 [Hokkien]  ―  phàⁿ-chhiú [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  generous

4. (Hakka) insufficient; lacking

冇

1. (Cantonese) Contraction of 唔好 (m⁴ hou², “don't”).

   冇煩我！／冇烦我！ [Cantonese]  ―  mou² faan⁴ ngo⁵! [Jyutping]  ―  Don't annoy me!

• 好冇

From etymology 1, with rising intonation.

冇

1. (Cantonese, uncommon or dated) Used at the end of questions to ask if one has done something yet.

   Synonym: 未

   食咗飯冇？／食咗饭冇？ [Cantonese]  ―  sik⁶ zo² faan⁶ mou²? [Jyutping]  ―  Have you eaten?

• “冇”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), B00004
• zi.tools

冇: Hán Nôm readings: mậu

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.