ою

Kazakh

Alternative scripts
Arabic	ويۋ
Cyrillic	ою
Latin	oiu

Etymology

From Old Turkic verb oj- ("to chisel"; "to make a deepening"), from Proto-Turkic *ōy- (“to pick, peck”)

The nominal and verbal meanings o:j ~ o:j- are correlative with each other within known limits.

The central meanings of o:j include:

• 1) hollow, depression, pothole, ravine
• 2) valley, immutability

The central meanings of the verb o:j- are somewhat richer than the nominal meanings and are grouped into the following:

• 1) to make an excavation, deepening; to deepen, to dig up, to excavate.
• 2) to cut, engrave
• 3) to cut through, cut a hole; to drill; to pierce.

All groups are genetically unified and should be considered as parts of a whole.

Cognate with Turkish oymak (“to cut, chisel, carve, or engrave”), Azerbaijani oymaq (“to carve, excavate”), Bashkir уйыу (uyıw, “to hollow”), Kyrgyz оюу (oyuu, “to ornament, etch”), Southern Altai ойор (oyor, “to pierce”), Turkmen oýmak (“to carve”), Uzbek oʻymoq (“to carve”).

Noun

ою • (oü)

1. ornament, decoration, pattern, carving, embossing, inlaying

Verb

ою • (oü)

1. gouge out; hollow out; cut through
2. etch; carve; engrave