Mizo ṭawng
Mizo
Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman, Kuki-Chin)
Mizo (Mizo ṭawng) is the official language of Mizoram, India, with ~830K speakers across northeastern India, western Myanmar (Chin State), and the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. It is part of the Kuki-Chin branch of Tibeto-Burman, closely related to Lai (Hakha Chin) and Hmar. The Latin-based script was developed by Welsh Presbyterian missionaries (J. H. Lorrain, F. W. Savidge) in 1894; it uses ṭ for the aspirated /tʰ/. Mizo has a complex tonal system with 4 tones (high, low, rising, falling). Christianity is dominant in Mizoram, and Mizo-language hymnody and gospel songs are central to the literary tradition.
Where it is spoken
20 core words in Mizo
Water
tui
/tui/
Fire
mei
/mei/
Sun
ni
/ni/
Moon
thla
/tʰla/
Mother
nu
/nu/
Father
pa
/pa/
Eat
ei
/ei/
Drink
in
/in/
Love
hmangaih
/hmaŋai/
Heart
thinlung
/tʰinluŋ/
Tree
thingkung
/tʰiŋkuŋ/
House
in
/in/
Dog
ui
/ui/
Cat
zawhte
/zɔʔte/
Hand
kut
/kut/
Eye
mit
/mit/
Hello
chibai
/tʃibai/
Thank you
ka lawm e
/ka lɔːm e/
One
pakhat
/pakʰat/
Good
tha
/tʰa/
Sources
Words compared
Compared with related Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman, Kuki-Chin) languages
| Meaning | Mizo | Hakha Chin | Meitei | Tangkhul Naga | Zeme Naga | Dzongkha | Classical Tibetan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | tui /tui/ | ti /ti/ | ꯏꯁꯤꯡ /isiŋ/ | ze /ze/ | nki /nki/ | ཆུ /tɕʰu/ | ཆུ /tɕʰu/ |
| Fire | mei /mei/ | mei /mei/ | ꯃꯩ /mei/ | mei /mei/ | mei /mei/ | མེ /me/ | མེ /me/ |
| Sun | ni /ni/ | ni /ni/ | ꯅꯨꯃꯤꯠ /numit/ | nyithui /ɲitʰui/ | sʰeu /sʰeu/ | ཉི་མ /ɲima/ | ཉི་མ /ɲima/ |
| Moon | thla /tʰla/ | thla /tʰla/ | ꯊꯥ /tʰaː/ | lai /lai/ | kʰu /kʰu/ | ཟླ་བ /dawa/ | ཟླ་བ /dawa/ |
| Mother | nu /nu/ | nu /nu/ | ꯏꯃꯥ /ima/ | ina /ina/ | nem /nem/ | ཨ་མ /ama/ | ཨ་མ /ama/ |
| Father | pa /pa/ | pa /pa/ | ꯏꯄꯥ /ipa/ | apa /apa/ | ape /ape/ | ཨ་པ /apa/ | ཕ /pʰa/ |
| Eat | ei /ei/ | ei /ei/ | ꯆꯥꯕ /tʃaːba/ | ngui /ŋui/ | so /so/ | བཟའ /za/ | བཟའ /za/ |
| Drink | in /in/ | din /din/ | ꯊꯛꯄ /tʰakpa/ | rai /rai/ | hʷu /hʷu/ | འཐུང /tʰuŋ/ | འཐུང /tʰuŋ/ |
| Love | hmangaih /hmaŋai/ | daw /daw/ | ꯅꯨꯡꯁꯤꯕ /nuŋsiba/ | cha /tʃa/ | kihai /kihai/ | དགའ་བ /ɡawa/ | དགའ་བ /ɡawa/ |
| Heart | thinlung /tʰinluŋ/ | lung /luŋ/ | ꯊꯃꯣꯏ /tʰamoi/ | mokyaba /mokjaba/ | heisia /heisia/ | སྙིང /ɲiŋ/ | སྙིང /ɲiŋ/ |
| Tree | thingkung /tʰiŋkuŋ/ | thingkung /tʰiŋkuŋ/ | ꯐꯨꯂꯥꯡ /pʰulaŋ/ | leiyik /leijik/ | rik /rik/ | ཤིང /ɕiŋ/ | ཤིང /ɕiŋ/ |
| House | in /in/ | inn /in/ | ꯌꯨꯝ /jum/ | shim /ʃim/ | ki /ki/ | ཁྱིམ /tɕim/ | ཁྱིམ /tɕʰim/ |
| Dog | ui /ui/ | ui /ui/ | ꯍꯨꯏ /hui/ | ui /ui/ | hui /hui/ | ཁྱི /tɕi/ | ཁྱི /tɕʰi/ |
| Cat | zawhte /zɔʔte/ | minu /minu/ | ꯍꯧꯗꯣꯡ /houdoŋ/ | mibu /mibu/ | kʰemi /kʰemi/ | བྱི་ལ /bila/ | བྱི་ལ /bila/ |
| Hand | kut /kut/ | kut /kut/ | ꯈꯨꯠ /kʰut/ | phei /pʰei/ | hak /hak/ | ལག་པ /lakpa/ | ལག་པ /lakpa/ |
| Eye | mit /mit/ | mit /mit/ | ꯃꯤꯠ /mit/ | mi /mi/ | mik /mik/ | མིག /mik/ | མིག /mik/ |
| Hello | chibai /tʃibai/ | na dam maw /na dam maw/ | ꯈꯨꯔꯨꯝꯖꯔꯤ /kʰuɾumdʒaɾi/ | hayau /hajau/ | hangba /haŋba/ | སྐུ་གཟུགས་བཟང་པོ་ལ /kuzu zaŋpo la/ | བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས /tʂaʃi deleks/ |
| Thank you | ka lawm e /ka lɔːm e/ | ka lawm /ka lawm/ | ꯊꯥꯒꯠꯆꯔꯤ /tʰaːɡattʃaɾi/ | ase /ase/ | kazi /kazi/ | བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེ /kadrintɕe/ | ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ /tʰukdʑe tɕʰe/ |
| One | pakhat /pakʰat/ | pakhat /pakʰat/ | ꯑꯃ /ama/ | kha /kʰa/ | kha /kʰa/ | གཅིག /tɕik/ | གཅིག /tɕik/ |
| Good | tha /tʰa/ | tha /tʰa/ | ꯐꯕ /pʰaba/ | kahei /kahei/ | ahei /ahei/ | ལེགས་ཤོམ /lekɕom/ | ཡག་པོ /jakpo/ |
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