Etymology

sawbwa

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Today it means: A Shan chieftain, any of the mostly petty tributary princes of the Shan States on the east of Burma. Full definition →

Burmese စော်ဘွား ← shn ၸဝ်ႈၽႃႉ
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The story

  1. shn · borrowed fromၸဝ်ႈၽႃႉ“heavenly chief”
  2. Burmese · borrowed fromစော်ဘွား
  3. English todaysawbwa

Borrowed from Burmese စော်ဘွား (caubhwa:), itself a loanword from Shan ၸဝ်ႈၽႃႉ (tsāo phâ̰a, “heavenly chief”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.