Michi

M

mmmurdock

New Member
United States
Can someone please tell me what the word "Michi" means in Spanish. If it helps it was used by someone from Costa Rica. I think it may be a term of endearment as it was used from a man to a woman with the man calling her Michi. I just want to know what it means. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
    • You use that word to call your cat or pusssy cat in these case, sometimes you name them michi and in some countries you call your girlfriend pussy cat. So I think he was just calling her "babe".
     
    En Perú "michi", aparte de usarse para llamar al gato, también se usa para describir ese juego que le llaman "3 rayas". También lo usamos, coloquialmente, para referirnos a un"BOW TIE".
     
    Michi comes from Quechua. It was originally the word for Panther Kitten. When kittens were introduced to the andes, the Inca natives would call them michi. The Spaniards adopted this as a slang for Kitten. In Spain you can often hear someone calling their cat "michi-michi-michi"... which would be similar to "here kitty kitty kitty".

    In this case, he was calling her "kitten".

    In Quechua, michi now usually means cat. And, in many Spanish speaking countries it is understood as Kitten or Kitty.
     
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    mmmurdock said:
    Can someone please tell me what the word "Michi" means in Spanish. If it helps it was used by someone from Costa Rica. I think it may be a term of endearment as it was used from a man to a woman with the man calling her Michi. I just want to know what it means. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Click to expand...
    It's actually "Mishi", and means "kitty." "Michi" is pronounced completely differently, with the "ch" sound. I can't believe no one here got it right.
     
    Herbalwolf said:
    It's actually "Mishi", and means "kitty." "Michi" is pronounced completely differently, with the "ch" sound. I can't believe no one here got it right.
    Click to expand...

    WR disagrees with you.


    michi nmBO, MX; coloquial (gato doméstico)house cat n
    indoor cat n
    domesticated cat n

    I have no idea how the word is pronounced in Quechua, but there is no "SH" in Spanish orthography.
     
    gengo said:
    WR disagrees with you.


    michi nmBO, MX; coloquial (gato doméstico)house cat n
    indoor cat n
    domesticated cat n

    I have no idea how the word is pronounced in Quechua, but there is no "SH" in Spanish orthography.
    Click to expand...
    :thumbsup:
    My dad speaks Quechua and I've never heard him use the sound "sh" in that language.
    Though I'm aware that in some places people like to call their cats "mishi" (me - she) instead of the more widely spread "michi" (me - chee), maybe because it sounds softer.
     
    I speak Spanish fluently, I majored in it in college, and I lived in Argentina for a long time. "Mishi" is the term used to call a cat, at least in Argentina, and the sound is 'sh', whether or not that exists in Spanish. Ch is never prounounced "sh" in Spanish...so, Mishi is correct in Spanish. It may be different in Quechua.
     
    Herbalwolf said:
    I speak Spanish fluently, I majored in it in college, and I lived in Argentina for a long time. "Mishi" is the term used to call a cat, at least in Argentina, and the sound is 'sh', whether or not that exists in Spanish. Ch is never prounounced "sh" in Spanish...so, Mishi is correct in Spanish. It may be different in Quechua.
    Click to expand...
    I've lived in Argentina my whole life, and no "sh" sound is taught in first year of elementary school, I actually had to be told by my classmates that I had to say "cashate", not "callate".

    As an example, I can provide the song "Chacarera de los Gatos", by the beloved María Elena Walsh, which chorus goes like this:

    "Pues les han pasado el dato
    Que hay concursos para gato
    Los tres michis allá van
    En tranvía a Tucumán."

    Yes, the sound "sh" is used a lot in several parts of Argentina and Uruguay, and that is called "yeísmo rehilado". It's not even used in all of Argentina.
     
    Tal vez proceda de "micifuz": ven mici, mici.

    Como sea, por aquí mi abuela decía "mishu, mishu". Y por esa razón, yo también.
     
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