mossa kezeit

Hungarian

Alternative forms

• mossa a kezeit

Etymology

mos (“to wash”) +‎ -ja (personal suffix) + a (“the”) + kéz (“hand”) +‎ -ei (multiple-possession possessive suffix) +‎ -t (accusative suffix), literally: “to wash one's hands”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmoʃːɒkɛzɛjit]

Verb

mossa kezeit

1. (idiomatic) to wash one's hands of (to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for, to refuse to have any further involvement with; the matter in question can be expressed with kapcsán or ügyében, among others)

Usage notes

In the literal sense of washing one's hands, kezet mos or megmossa a kezét is used. (Body pairs and the corresponding items of clothing are normally used in the singular in Hungarian, so the plural is exceptional in this idiom.)

Conjugation

• For the verb, see mos (its definite-conjugation forms are used here).
• The inflected noun kezeit is changed in accordance with the subject: kezeimet, kezeidet, kezeinket, kezeiteket, kezeiket. The definite article a is optional, as well as the accusative ending -et (although it is not usually omitted in the plural).