pou

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Archived revision by DerbethBot (talk | contribs) as of 08:25, 22 July 2022.
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: Pou, póu, pòu, põu, pōu, pǒu, and POU

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch pauw.

Pronunciation

  • Audio:(file)

Noun

pou (plural poue, diminutive poutjie)

  1. peacock

Derived terms


Amanab

Noun

pou

  1. a kind of snake

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Catalan pou, from an older */pots/ (with regular /-ts/ > /u̯/), from Latin puteus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *paw- (to strike). Attested from 1272.[1] Compare Occitan potz, French puits, Spanish pozo.

Pronunciation

Noun

pou m (plural pous)

  1. well (a hole sunk into the ground as a source of water, oil, natural gas or other fluids)
  2. (figurative) well (a source of supply)
    • 2020 August 11, Mònica Planas Callol, “Secrets i prejudicis a l’americana [American-style secrets and prejudices]”, in Ara[1]:
      La sèrie provoca una angoixa creixent en l’espectador per la tendència dels personatges a amagar les seves ferides en comptes de guarir-les, i això es converteix en un pou de malentesos i conflictes que es van acumulant.
      The show causes a growing anxiety in the viewer because of the characters' tendency to hide their wounds instead of healing them, and that becomes a well of misunderstandings and conflicts that build up over time.

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ pou”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024

References


French

Etymology

From Old French pouil, peouil, püil, from Late Latin peduclus < peduculus, variant of Latin pēdīculus, from pēdis, from Proto-Indo-European *pezd-. The singular is a back-formation from the plural (see also genou with the same development).

Pronunciation

Noun

pou m (plural poux)

  1. louse; head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis)

Usage notes

Only seven words in French ending in -ou have their plurals in -oux instead of -ous: bijou, caillou, chou, genou, hibou, joujou, pou.

Derived terms

See also

Further reading


Haitian Creole

Etymology 1

From French pour (for).

Preposition

pou

  1. for
    • 2019 March 19, “Rankont ann Itali ant Anvwaye Espesyal Etazini ak Larisi sou Kriz Venezuela a”, in Lavwadlamerik[2]:
      Anvwaye espesyal Etazini pou Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, ak vis-minis afè etranjè Larisi, Sergei Ryabkov, ap fè reyinyon nan vil Wòm ann Itali pou yo pale sou “sityasyon Venezuela kap agrave.”
      American Special Envoy for Venezuela Elliot Abrams and Russian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov are meeting in the city of Rome, Italy to speak about "the worsening situation in Venezuela."

Etymology 2

From French pou (louse).

Noun

pou

  1. louse

Mandarin

Romanization

pou

  1. Nonstandard spelling of pōu.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of póu.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of pǒu.
  4. Nonstandard spelling of pòu.

Usage notes

  • Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Maori

Noun

pou

  1. pillar

Mauritian Creole

Alternative forms

  • pu

Etymology

From French pour. Compare Haitian Creole pou.

Pronunciation

Preposition

pou

  1. for

Verb

pou (medial form pou)

  1. (auxiliary) Used to indicate future tense.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French poi.

Adverb

pou

  1. little (not much, not a lot)

Descendants

  • French: peu

Old French

Adverb

pou

  1. Alternative form of poi

Pará Arára

Alternative forms

  • pougu (used when talking to a capuchin monkey)

Noun

pou

  1. small peccary

References

  • 2010, Isaac Costa de Souza, A Phonological Description of “Pet Talk” in Arara (MA), SIL Brazil, page 42.

Tulu-Bohuai

Noun

pou

  1. pig

Further reading

  • Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, Pacific Linguistics, series C-98 (1988)