MWW 9: ингэ

Cyrillic	ингэ
Transcription	inge
IPA	[iŋk]
Layman’s Pronunciation	INK
Translation	adult female camel
In Genghis Khan’s time it was ingge.

Today’s word is an example of something where Mongolian makes much finer distinctions than English does, and perhaps about how Mongolians care a lot more about camels than Americans do. Today’s word is ингэ, an “adult female camel.” This means that the camel it refers to is fully-grown and female. It is not a male camel. It is not a baby camel. And it most certainly never ever refers to a male llama embryo. By contrast, poor English only has the very broad word “camel,” and to get the level of specificity above it has to tack on two adjectives for a total of six syllables, all to say what Mongolians can say in one concise syllable: ингэ.