Wu

See also: wu, wú, wù, wū, wǔ, wu-, and -wü

English

Etymology 1

From Mandarin 吳／吴 (Wú). Doublet of O.

Proper noun

Wu

1. (historical) Suzhou, a city in southern Jiangsu province in China, whence:
   1. (historical) A county of imperial and Republican China around Suzhou.
   2. (historical) A commandery of imperial China around Suzhou.
2. A historic and cultural region of China around the mouth of the Yangtze River, whence:
   1. The family of Chinese languages spoken in that region, including Shanghainese and Suzhounese, the second-most spoken family after Mandarin.
   2. (historical) The kingdom ruled by the Ji family from Wuxi and then Suzhou during the Spring and Autumn period of China's Zhou dynasty.
   3. A common surname from Chinese:
   4. (historical) The kingdom ruled by the Sun family from Ezhou and Nanjing during the Three Kingdoms interregnum following China's Han dynasty.
      • 1977, Chiang, Yee, “Kuei-lin and Yang-shuo”, in China Revisited‎^[1], New York: W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, LCCN 77-22587, OCLC 473570033, page 155:

        I deeply regretted having to miss seeing Hsing-ping, a very old town built by the ruler of the Wu Kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period of the third century.

   5. (historical) The kingdom ruled by Li Zitong from Yangzhou and Hangzhou during the interregnum following China's Sui dynasty.
   6. (historical) The kingdom ruled by the Yang family from Yangzhou during the Ten Kingdoms interregnum following China's Tang dynasty.
   7. (historical) The kingdom ruled by the Qian family from Hangzhou and Shaoxing during the Ten Kingdoms interregnum following China's Tang dynasty.

Synonyms

• Gusu, Helu City, Suzhou (Suzhou)
• Wuxian, Wuhsien, Wu-hsien (county)
• Wujun, Wu-chun (commandery)
• Wu Chinese, Jiangnan, Wuyue, Jiangzhe (language family)
• Gou Wu, Gouwu, Gong Wu, Gongwu (Spring & Autumn Period realm)
• Dong Wu, Dongwu, Eastern Wu, Sun Wu (Three Kingdoms realm)
• Huainan, Hongnong, Southern Wu, Yang Wu (Ten Kingdoms realm ruled from Yangzhou)
• Wuyue (Ten Kingdoms realm ruled from Hangzhou)
• Woo (surname)

Translations

one of the families of the Chinese language

• Arabic: وُو‎ m (wū)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 吳語 (zh), 吴语 (zh) (Wúyǔ), 吳方言, 吴方言 (Wúfāngyán)

  Wu: 吳語, 吴语 (Wu6 nyiu6), 吳方言, 吴方言 (Wu6 faon1 yi6)

• Finnish: wu-kiina (fi)
• French: wu (fr) m
• Japanese: 呉語 (ja) (ごご, gogo)
• Korean: 우어(吳語) (ueo)
• Russian: у (ru) m (u)
• Thai: ภาษาจีนอู๋
• Vietnamese: tiếng Ngô

Chinese surname

• Arabic: وُو‎ (wū)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 吳 (zh), 吴 (zh) (Wú), 伍 (zh) (Wǔ)

  Wu: 吳, 吴 (Wu6), 伍 (Ng6, Wu6)

• Finnish: Wu (fi)
• Japanese: 吳 (ja) (ご, Go), ウー (Ū)
• Korean: 오(吳) (ko) (O), 우 (ko) (U)
• Russian: У (ru) (U)
• Vietnamese: Ngô (吳), Wu

See also

• Suzhounese
• ISO 639-3 code wuu (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Wu, wuu (behind paywall)

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Wu terms

Etymology 2

From the Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 武 (Wǔ, “war, warrior, warlike”).

Proper noun

Wu

1. A surname from Chinese.
2. (historical) An epithet of numerous kings and emperors in Chinese history who were honored with variants of the posthumous name Wuwang or Wudi.

Usage notes

Although the Chinese usage of Wu as a posthumous name is adjectival and should properly be translated—as, e.g., "the Martial Emperor of the Han dynasty"—or treated as an epithet in a similar manner to emperors called after their era names—as, e.g., "the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty"—it is much more common to encounter them in English sources treated as proper names—as, e.g., "Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty"—despite the Chinese meaning nothing of the sort.

Synonyms

• Woo (surname)
• Mo (surname)
• martial, war-like, etc. (royal epithet)

Etymology 3

From the Pinyin romanization of various Mandarin surnames: 伍 (Wǔ), 巫 (Wū), 仵 (Wǔ), 烏／乌 (Wū), 鄔／邬 (Wū).

Proper noun

Wu

1. A surname from Chinese.

Synonyms

• Woo

Etymology 4

From Cantonese 胡 (wu⁴). Doublet of Hu.

Proper noun

Wu

1. A surname from Chinese.

Synonyms

• Woo

Anagrams

• UW

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Indonesian

Alternative forms

Variant spellings

• (Teochew, Hokkien):
  • Aw
  • Auw
  • Hu
  • Hoo

Etymology

From Cantonese 胡 (Hú).

Proper noun

Wu

1. a surname from Cantonese

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Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Mandarin 吳／吴 (Wú) and 伍 (Wǔ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwu/, [ˈwu]

Proper noun

Wu (Baybayin spelling ᜏᜓ)

1. a surname from Mandarin of Chinese origin

Related terms

• Cinco
• Go
• Goh
• Gozon
• Ngo