quelê
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Macanese[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Univerbation of Portuguese que laia (“what way”), where laia was pronounced as if spelt *leia in early Macanese.[1] Doublet of qui laia.
Pronunciation[edit]
Determiner[edit]
quelê
Derived terms[edit]
- quelê-môdo (“how”, literally “in what way”)
- quelê tánto (“any amount; a lot, many”)
Adverb[edit]
quelê
Usage notes[edit]
- Like qui, quelê can be used to connect a noun with an adjective, similarly to Portuguese bem, for example:
- Irmandade quelê unido ― close-knit siblings (literally, “siblings well connected”)
- fruta quelê maduro ― ripe fruit (literally, “well-ripe fruit”)
References[edit]
- ^ Batalha, Graciete Nogueira (1988) “quelê”, in Glossário do dialecto macaense: notas linguísticas, etnográficas e folclóricas [Glossary of the Macanese dialect: linguistic, ethnographic and folkloric notes], Macau: Instituto Cultural de Macau, page 62