mooi, interjection and & adjective

/mɔɪ/
Forms:
moi, mooyShow more Also moi, mooy, moy.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, from Dutch, handsome, pretty.
colloquial
Note:
Used in the past by writers to suggest the speech of South African Dutch or Afrikaans-speakers, ‘mooi’ is now commonly used in colloquial South African English.
A. interjection Expressive of pleasure or approval: ‘wonderful’, ‘great’.
1812 A. Plumptre tr. of H. Lichtenstein’s Trav. in Sn Afr. (1928) I. 118At every object which excited their astonishment or gave them pleasure, they exclaimed mooi! mooi! (fine! fine!)..pronounced with a slow and lengthened tone that was not unpleasing.
1916 J.M. Orpen Reminisc. (1964) 306I caught the little boy by the arm and swung him behind me astride on the horse...The mite..turned and cried ‘Mooi!’ (Beautiful).
1946 V. Pohl Adventures of Boer Family 66Being a Boer he felt himself amply rewarded with a handshake, a slap on the back, and a laughing ‘Mooi, Jan!’ (‘Well done, Jan!’) from his leader.
1960 Capricorn High School Mag. Dec. 90With cries of ‘Mooi, mooi, shot, Oh! Well played!’ we finished off our competitive basketball against the various schools in our league.
1971 Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)‘We’ll come and see you tonight, then.’ ‘Mooi!’
1979 Daily Dispatch 11 May 10There would always be a potential for conflict, he added. ‘Mooi,’ interjected an opposition member, applauding not the potential for conflict but Mr Nothnagel’s recognition of its cause.
1983 Sunday Times 8 May (Mag. Sect.) 23The kid from Booysens hits home with a lucky right cut and the word ‘Mooi’ echoes around the hall like a mortar blast.
1994 TV1, 30 July (The Line)Jiss, look at that, hey! Mooi!
B. adjective Also (attributive) mooie. Pretty; good; nice.
[1797 Lady A. Barnard S. Afr. Century Ago (1910) 138The moye kinder (pretty little children — to translate for you).]
1850 N.J. Merriman Cape Jrnls (1957) 106He wanted to know..why the Wesleyans did not wear the same ‘mooie’ garments that we wore (viz. the surplice).
a1875 T. Baines Jrnl of Res. (1964) II. 43The one objectionable part of their attire..a quantity of leather thongs coiled about their ankles till the really graceful limb had the appearance of a gouty leg. They told me however that it was very ‘mooi’.
1887 A.A. Anderson 25 Yrs in Waggon I. 41When I showed them a small drawing of the town,..they held it upside down, and said it was mooi (pretty).
1894 E. Glanville Fair Colonist 87Two English ladies, he said...He thought one was called Miss Tamplin. He knew this, that they were both mooi (beautiful).
1904 Argus Christmas Annual (Orange River Col. Sect.) 13A soft mooi bed. He sank into the mattress.
1910 D. Fairbridge That Which Hath Been (1913) 109‘Ja, the homesteads are mooi.’ ‘Mooi, my dear Madam,’ exclaimed van der Stel,..‘surely you don’t call a house like Meerlust pretty?’
1912 F. Bancroft Veldt Dwellers 15Father’s going to give him a mooi fat heifer.
[1921 E. Prov. Herald 3 Mar. 7He said it was just a ‘Mooi Kleppje’...He certainly had no idea of its being any more valuable than any other Mooi Klip (pretty stone).]
[1937 C.R. Prance Tante Rebella’s Saga 18In the year 1900 she was a mere girl, a ‘mooi meisje’ whose skirts could never keep pace with the growth of long bare legs.]
1963 J. Packer Home from Sea 126‘She’s tame, that mooi animal’, said Ben, who loved and admired her.
1979 Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)That was a mooi rain, hey?
1983 Sunday Times 18 Sept. 33The people are mooi — really nice.
c1985 S. Cromie in Eng. Academy Rev. Vol.3 18Look at their fancy clothes, Lekker houses, Mooi braaivleis once a week — real meat too nogal!
1994 Sunday Times 23 Jan. (advt)We’ve got a..culinary culture all of our own. And boy is it mooi.
Expressive of pleasure or approval: ‘wonderful’, ‘great’.
Also (attributive) mooie.Pretty; good; nice.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

17971994

Browse Related Words

By Category

Language

By Origin

Afrikaans
Dutch

By Usage

idiomatic
colloquial
moochi, nounn.mooi nooitje, noun phrasen. phr.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English