Meanings
mou1
- MalaysiaSingaporecolloquialmainly Cantonese speakersSentence-final particle, forming a tag question.
Kopitiam mou?
Do you want to go to the coffee shop?
2 more examples
Day trip mou?
Do you want to go on a day trip?
Hiking tomorrow. Onz mou?
I/We are going on a hike tomorrow. Are you coming?
MoU2
plural MoUs · alternative MOU · alternative M.O.U. · alternative M. O. U.
- abbreviationinitialismInitialism of memorandum of understanding.
Mr Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's history, is seeking another term in the elections scheduled for later this year, with his political rivals using the MoU as a strick to beat him with before October's vote.
2026 June 18, Iona Cleave et al., “How Trump's 'Operation Epic Disaster' Turned the World against America”, in The Telegraph
MOU3
plural MOUs
- alternativeAlternative form of MoU.
"I suspect the MOU may be less awful than the administration's disastrous sales pitch," Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies posted on X yesterday. (Later he conceded the deal was not better at all but, in fact, "even worse than I assumed.")
2026 June 17, Jonathan Chait, “All the Sad Hawks”, in The Atlantic1 more example
“I don’t think it is possible run an effective transition without entering into the MOUs in order to get access to critical government support,” Max Stier, the president and CEO of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, told CNN. […] GSA “is prepared to provide services to the Trump transition team once an MOU is executed and services are accepted,” a GSA spokesperson said.
2024 November 6, Betsy Klein, “What we know about the transition so far”, in CNN
Mou4
Origin
mou · particle
From Cantonese 冇 (mou5), also influenced by Malay mau variant of mahu (“to want”).
Full word history & related roots →Mou · proper noun
- Chinese牟
- EnglishMou
Borrowed from Chinese 牟 (Móu).
More words from Chinese
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
mou. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mou
“mou.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mou. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mou,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mou.
Source: mou on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.