sue

See also: Sue, sué, su'e, sü, and suë

English

Etymology

From Middle English seuen, sewen, siwen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman suer, siwer et al. and Old French sivre (“to follow after”) (modern French suivre), from Vulgar Latin *sequere (“to follow”), from Latin sequi. Cognate with Italian seguire and Spanish seguir. Doublet of segue. Related to suit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s(j)uː/, /sɪu̯/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophones: Sioux, sou, Su, Sue

Verb

sue (third-person singular simple present sues, present participle suing, simple past and past participle sued)

1. (transitive) To file a legal action against someone, generally a non-criminal action.

   sue someone for selling a faulty product

   I plan to sue you for everything you have.

   • 1897, Warren Bert Kimberly, “W. Horgan”, in History of West Australia:

     He was sued by the late Geo. Walpole Leake for slander, and after two trials, occupying eight days, he was mulcted in heavy damages and costs.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To seek by request; to make application; to petition; to entreat; to plead.
3. (transitive, falconry, of a hawk) To clean (the beak, etc.).
4. (transitive, nautical) To leave high and dry on shore.

   to sue a ship

5. (obsolete, transitive) To court.
6. (obsolete, transitive) To follow.
   • 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum iv”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book XIII, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:

     And the olde knyght seyde unto the yonge knyght, ‘Sir, swith me.’

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     though oft looking backward, well she vewd, / Her selfe freed from that foster insolent, / And that it was a knight, which now her sewd, / Yet she no lesse the knight feard, then that villein rude.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:sue.

Derived terms

• sue for peace
• sue me
• sue one's livery
• sue out

 

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sekʷ-‎ (3 c, 0 e)

Translations

to file a legal action

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: məhkəməyə vermək
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: завеждам дело (zaveždam delo)
• Burmese: တရားစွဲ (my) (ta.ra:cwai:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 起訴／起诉 (zh) (qǐsù)

• Czech: žalovat (cs)
• Danish: lægge sag an, sagsøge, stævne (da)
• Dutch: aanklagen (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: saksøkja, lógsøkja
• Finnish: nostaa kanne, haastaa oikeuteen
• French: poursuivre en justice, intenter un procès à
• Georgian: ჩივილი (čivili), უჩივლა pf (učivla)
• German: verklagen (de), klagen (de)
• Greek: μηνύω (el) (minýo)
• Hebrew: תבע (he) (tavá)
• Hungarian: beperel (hu), perel (hu), perbe fog
• Icelandic: lögsækja
• Indonesian: menuntut (id)
• Irish: agair
• Italian: fare causa, citare in giudizio
• Japanese: 訴える (ja) (うったえる, uttaeru)
• Khmer: ប្ដឹង (km) (pdəng), ផ្ដៀង (km) (phdiəng)
• Korean: 고소하다 (ko) (gosohada)
• Ladin: dé sëura
• Lao: ຟ້ອງ (fǭng)
• Latin: lītigō, lītem inferō
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: saksøke

  Nynorsk: saksøkja

• Polish: pozywać (pl) impf, pozwać (pl) pf
• Portuguese: processar (pt), demandar (pt)
• Romanian: da în judecată
• Russian: пресле́довать в суде́бном поря́дке impf (preslédovatʹ v sudébnom porjádke), подава́ть в суд impf (podavátʹ v sud), предъявля́ть иск impf (predʺjavljátʹ isk), суди́ться (ru) impf (sudítʹsja) (с - with)
• Scottish Gaelic: tagair
• Spanish: demandar (es)
• Swedish: stämma (sv), lagföra (sv)
• Tagalog: hablahin, maghabla, idemanda, magdemanda
• Thai: ฟ้อง (th) (fɔ́ɔng), ฟ้องร้อง (th) (fɔ́ɔng-rɔ́ɔng)
• Tibetan: ཁྲིམས་ལ་བསྐྱལ (khrims la bskyal)
• Tok Pisin: kotim
• Turkish: mahkemeye vermek
• Vietnamese: thưa kiện (vi), kiện (vi)
• White Hmong: foob

See also

• fig-sue

Anagrams

• ESU, EUS, SEU, UEs, ues, use

Ewe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /suːɛ/, /suːeɪ/

Adjective

sue

1. small

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sy/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophones: su, suent, sues, sus, sut, sût
• Rhymes: -y

Verb

sue

1. inflection of suer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative
2. feminine singular past participle of savoir

Anagrams

• eus, use, usé

Galician

Verb

sue

1. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of suar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Italian

Etymology

From Latin suae.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsu.e/
• Rhymes: -ue
• Hyphenation: sù‧e

Adjective

sue

1. plural of sua

Anagrams

• use

Japanese

Romanization

sue

1. Rōmaji transcription of すえ

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsu.e/, [ˈs̠uɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsu.e/, [ˈsuːe]

Verb

sue

1. second-person singular present active imperative of suō

Noun

sue

1. ablative singular of sūs

Middle English

Noun

sue

1. Alternative form of sowe

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: su‧e

Verb

sue

1. inflection of suar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Tarantino

Pronoun

sue m (possessive, feminine soje)

1. his