လှေကား

The first component, လှေ (hle), denotes "ladder", apparently only surviving with this sense in this compound, and is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-l(a/e)j (“bridge, ladder”); compare Mizo lei (“bridge, ladder”) and Old Chinese 梯 (OC *tʰiːl, “ladder”) (STEDT).

The identity of the second component, ကား (ka:), is less clear. STEDT refrains from assigning an etymology (hle-kâ "stairs; ladder"), while Luce 1981's comparison with Old Chinese 階 (OC *kriːl, “stair, step”) is phonetically unconvincing. It seems plausible that the second syllable invokes the usual sense of "spread out".

• Phonetic respelling: လှေဂါး
• IPA^(key): /l̥èɡá/
• Romanization: MLCTS: hleka: • ALA-LC: lhekāʺ • BGN/PCGN: hlega: • Okell: hleikà

လှေကား • (hleka:)

1. stairs
2. ladder

• “လှေကား” in Myanmar–English Dictionary (Myanmar Language Commission 1993). Searchable online at SEAlang.net.