Etymology

From earlier མེན་ཏོག ‎(men tog). The reason this word lost the -n in Written Tibetan is unknown.

The men in the Old Tibetan form may be compared with འཕྲ་མེན ‎('phra men, “gilded silver”), and the tog part is from ཐོག ‎(thog, “roof < *tip, end?”) (Hill, 2007).

Pronunciation

• Old Tibetan:
  • IPA^(key): /*me.tok/ (reconstructed)
• Ü-Tsang
  • Tibetan Pinyin: me^v-do^h
  • (Lhasa) IPA^(key): /me˩˧.to˥˩/