lu

See also: Appendix:Variations of "lu"

Languages (40)

Translingual • English

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Achang • Äiwoo • Asturian • Bakung • Basque • Betawi • Chinese • Cornish • Corsican • Danish • French • Friulian • Hausa • Iberian • Ido • Indonesian • Iranun • Japanese • Jingpho • Kapampangan • Linngithigh • Lutuv • Malay • Mandarin • Mizo • Muong • Neapolitan • Norwegian Nynorsk • Old French • Sassarese • Sicilian • Sumerian • Tocharian A • Veps • Vietnamese • Welsh • Zazaki • Zou

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Page categories

Translingual

Symbol

lu

1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Luba-Katanga.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Luba-Katanga terms

English

Etymology 1

Noun

lu (uncountable)

1. Archaic form of loo (“card game”).

Verb

lu (third-person singular simple present lus, present participle luing, simple past and past participle lued)

1. Archaic form of loo (“beat at card game”).

Etymology 2

A romanization of Chinese 路 (lù, “route”)

Noun

lu (usually uncountable, plural lus)

1. (historical) Synonym of route or circuit, an administrative division of imperial China.

References

• “lu”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• UL, Ul, ul

Achang

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• (Myanmar) /lu˧/
• (Lianghe) [lɑ³¹]
• (Longchuan) [lɔ³¹]
• (Luxi) [la⁵¹]
• (Xiandao) [lɔ³¹]

Noun

lu

1. tiger, leopard

Äiwoo

Noun

lu

1. life

References

• Ross, M. & Næss, Å. (2007), “An Oceanic origin for Äiwoo, the language of the Reef Islands?”, in Oceanic Linguistics, volume 46, number 2. Cited in: "Äiwoo" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.

Asturian

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *illu, from Latin illum, accusative of ille. Compare Spanish lo.

Pronoun

lu, la f, lo n

1. Third-person singular direct object; him, it

Bakung

Etymology

From Proto-Kenyah *lu, from Proto-North Sarawak, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qahəlu, from Proto-Austronesian *qaSəlu (“pestle”).

Noun

lu

1. pestle for pounding rice

References

• Smith, A. (2017), The Languages of Borneo: A Comprehensive Classification, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Basque

Etymology

Unknown. Potentially compare Iberian lu (“deep”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lu/ [lu]
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: lu

Noun

lu inan

1. pussy, vagina

Declension

Declension of lu (inan V-stem)

	indefinite	singular	plural	proximal plural
absolutive	lu	lua	luak	luok
ergative	luk	luak	luek	luok
dative	luri	luari	luei	luoi
genitive	luren	luaren	luen	luon
comitative	lurekin	luarekin	luekin	luokin
causative	lurengatik	luarengatik	luengatik	luongatik
benefactive	lurentzat	luarentzat	luentzat	luontzat
instrumental	luz	luaz	luez	luotaz
innesive	lutan	luan	luetan	luotan
locative	lutako	luko	luetako	luotako
allative	lutara	lura	luetara	luotara
terminative	lutaraino	luraino	luetaraino	luotaraino
directive	lutarantz	lurantz	luetarantz	luotarantz
destinative	lutarako	lurako	luetarako	luotarako
ablative	lutatik	lutik	luetatik	luotatik
partitive	lurik	—	—	—
prolative	lutzat	—	—	—

Betawi

Alternative forms

• elu (extended form)
• eluh (extended form)
• lo
• luh

Etymology

Borrowed from Hokkien 汝 (lú, “you”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lu/

  • Audio:

    (file)

• IPA^(key): /luh/
• IPA^(key): /əˈlu/ (extended form)

  • Audio:

    (file)

• IPA^(key): /əˈluh/ (extended form)
• Hyphenation: lu

Pronoun

lu

1. you (personal pronoun)
2. you (direct object of a verb)
3. you (object of a preposition)
4. you (indirect object of a verb)
5. your (belonging to me)

Usage notes

Used mainly in a common situation, especially between friends or by someone older in terms of speaking to a younger person. As for the usage by a younger person speaking with an older person, there is no agreement whether it is appropriate to do so or not: some would regard it as inappropriate, some other would not. Grijns (1991) noted that some Batavians use this pronoun when speaking to God.

Synonyms

• énté

References

• Grijns, C.D. (1991), Jakarta Malay, volume 2, Leiden: KITLV Press, page 122.

Chinese

For pronunciation and definitions of lu – see 嚕 (“Cantonese particle”). (This term is a variant form of 嚕).

Cornish

Etymology

From Old Cornish luu, from Proto-Brythonic *llʉɣ, from Proto-Celtic *slougos.

Noun

lu m (plural luyow)

1. army, troop, fleet

Corsican

Etymology

From Latin ille (“that”), from Old Latin olle (“that”). Cognates include Italian lo (“him”), il (“the”) and French le (“the, him”).

Article

lu

1. archaic form of u

Pronoun

lu

1. archaic form of u

References

• “lu” in INFCOR: Banca di dati di a lingua corsa
• “u, lu” in INFCOR: Banca di dati di a lingua corsa

Danish

Verb

lu

1. imperative of lue

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ly/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Homophones: lue, lues, lus, lut, lût

Participle

lu (feminine lue, masculine plural lus, feminine plural lues)

1. past participle of lire

Friulian

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *illu, from Latin illum. Compare Italian lo.

Pronoun

lu (third person masculine direct object)

1. him

Related terms

• lui
• i

Hausa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lûː/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [lûː]

Ideophone

lû

1. swinging motion

Iberian

Etymology

Unknown. Possibly compare Basque lu (“vagina”)

Adjective

lu

1. deep

   tekeŕ lu keś ir

   A deep votive action

References

• Villamor, Fernando (2020) A basic dictionary and grammar of the Iberian language

Ido

Etymology

Back-formation from ilu (“he, him”), elu (“she, her”) and olu (“it”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lu/

Pronoun

lu (plural li)

1. Third-person singular pronoun for referents of any gender; he/him, she/her, it or that

   Me ne savas ka lu es viro o muliero.

   I don't know if he/she is a man or a woman.

Usage notes

Lu is widely used in Ido, and not exclusively when a gendered possessive determiner is inappropriate, but also in order to avoid repetition depending on the user's preferences.

Derived terms

• li (“they, them”)
• lua

Related terms

• ilu (“he, him”) (masculine)
• elu (“she, her”) (feminine)
• olu (“it”) (neuter)

See also

Personal pronouns in Ido

		singular			plural
		nominative	possessive		nominative	possessive
			singular	plural		singular	plural
first person		me	mea	mei	ni	nia	nii
second person	formal	vu	vua	vui	vi	via	vii
	familiar	tu	tua	tui
third person	masculine	ilu, il	ilua	ilui	ili	ilia	ilii
	feminine	elu, el	elua	elui	eli	elia	elii
	neuter	olu, ol	olua	olui	oli	olia	olii
	common	lu	lua	lui	li	lia	lii
	reflexive	su	sua	sui	su	sua	sui
indefinite		onu, on	onua	onui	onu, on	onua	onui

• The possessive plurals are seldom used.
• The shortened forms are preferred.
• The pangendered forms are preferred to the gendered or neuter forms in most scenarios.

Indonesian

Etymology

From Hokkien 汝 (lú), either directly or via Betawi lu (“you”). Doublet of lo.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈlu/ [ˈlu]
• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: lu

Pronoun

lu

1. (chiefly Jakarta, slang) Second-person singular pronoun: you, your, yours

Synonyms

Indonesian informal second-person pronouns:

• anta (informal, mainly used by Muslim community)
• antum (informal, mainly used by Muslim community)
• coen (slang, East Java)
• ente (informal, mainly used by Betawi ethnic group)
• kamu (intimate)
• ko, kowe (informal, Java)
• kon, koen (colloquial, East Java)
• lu, lo, loe, elu (informal, mainly used by Betawi ethnic group)
• mika, mike (informal, Eastern Sumatra)

Iranun

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *luheq.

Noun

lu

1. tear

Japanese

Romanization

lu

1. Rōmaji transcription of る゚
2. Rōmaji transcription of ル゚

Jingpho

Etymology

Borrowed from Burmese လှူ (hlu).

Verb

lu

1. to offer
2. to donate

References

• Kurabe, Keita (31 December 2016), “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, in Kyoto University Linguistic Research‎^[2], volume 35, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 91–128

Kapampangan

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *si-ida, from Proto-Austronesian *(si-)ida. Compare Kapampangan la.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈilu/ [ˈiː.lu]
• Hyphenation: í‧lu

Pronoun

lu

1. they (third person plural)

   Synonym: (preposed) ilu

Derived terms

• dalu
• do
• nalu
• no
• talu
• to

See also

Kapampangan personal pronouns

		absolute		ergative	oblique
		disjunctive	enclitic
first person	singular	aku/i aku/yaku	ku		kanaku
	plural inclusive	ikatamu	katamu/tamu	tamu/ta	kekatamu
	plural exclusive	ikami, ike	kami/ke	mi	kekami/keke
second person	singular	ika	ka	mu	keka
	plural	ikayu/iko	kayu/ko	yu	kekayu/keko
third person	singular	iya/ya	ya	na	keya/kaya
	plural	ila	la	da/ra	karela

Linngithigh

Pronoun

lu

1. he/she/it (third-person singular nominative pronoun)

See also

Linngithigh personal pronouns

Person	Number (and clusivity)	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
First	Singular	ayong	ninh	thom	thon
	Dual inclusive	linggay	linh	linam	lingg
	Non-singular exclusive	nan	nanh	nanam	nangg
	Plural inclusive	puy	punh	punam	pungg
Second	Singular	tru	nanh	kom	kon
	Dual	poy	ponh	ponam	pongg
	Plural	irae	iraenh	iraenam	iraengg
Third	Singular	lu	ngonh	ngom	ngon
	Dual	lawuy	lawunh/lanh	lawunam	lawungg
	Plural	'ar	'anh	'anam	'angg

Lutuv

Etymology

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *law, from Proto-Tibeto-Burman *low.

Noun

lu

1. farm, field

   Lu ca ina thlu pa.

   He tills the field for me.

Malay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlu/ [ˈlu]
• Rhymes: -u

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Hokkien 汝 (lú).

Pronoun

lu (Jawi spelling لو)

1. (Singapore, colloquial) you

   Synonyms: kamu, engkau, kau, awak, anda, hang

Derived terms

• lu orang

See also

Malay personal pronouns

		singular	plural
1st person	standard	saya / ساي aku / اکو, ku- / كوـ (informal/towards God) -ku / ـكو (poetic possessive) hamba / همبا (dated) daku / داکو (poetic)	kami / کامي (exclusive) kita orang / كيت اورڠ (informal exclusive) kita / کيت (inclusive)
	royal	beta / بيتا
2nd person	standard	kamu / کامو
		engkau / اڠکاو, kau- / كاوـ (informal/poetic/towards God) kau / كاو (informal) awak / اوق (friendly/older towards younger) anda / اندا (formal) awda / اءودا (Brunei, formal) -mu / ـمو (poetic possessive) dikau / ديکاو (poetic)	anda semua / اندا سموا (formal) awak semua / اوق سموا kamu semua / كامو سموا kalian / کالين (archaic) kau orang / كاو اورڠ (informal)
	royal	tuanku / توانكو
3rd person	standard	dia / دي ia / اي beliau / بلياو (honorific) -nya / ـڽ (possessive)	mereka / مريک dia orang / دي اورڠ (informal)
	royal	baginda / بݢيندا

Etymology 2

Clipping of dulu.

Adverb

lu (Jawi spelling لو)

1. (colloquial) alternative form of dulu

   Aku gerak lu.

   I'm going first.

Further reading

• “lu”, in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu [Malay Literary Reference Centre] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017

Mandarin

Romanization

lu (lu⁵ / lu⁰, Zhuyin ˙ㄌㄨ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 氌 / 氇

lu

1. nonstandard spelling of lū
2. nonstandard spelling of lú
3. nonstandard spelling of lǔ
4. nonstandard spelling of lù
5. nonstandard spelling of lǖ
6. nonstandard spelling of lǘ
7. nonstandard spelling of lǚ
8. nonstandard spelling of lǜ

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.

Mizo

Etymology

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *luu, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *qV-luʔ.

Noun

lu

1. head

Further reading

• Lorrain, J. Herbert (1940), “lu”, in Dictionary of the Lushai language, Calcutta: Asiatic Society

Muong

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *m-luː, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *bluuʔ.

A great number of Muong lects, as well as Vietnamese, had replaced this native etymology with Sinitic 腿 (tuǐ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lu¹/

Noun

lu

1. (Mường Bi) thigh

   Synonym: tùi

Neapolitan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lu/

Pronoun

lu

1. alternative form of 'u

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

lu m

1. (dialectal) alternative form of lur (“lur, trumpet”)

References

• Ivar Aasen (1850), “Lu”, in Ordbog over det norske Folkesprog‎^[3] (in Danish), Oslo: Samlaget, published 2000

Old French

Alternative forms

• lou, leu

Etymology

Reduced form of Latin lupus.

Noun

lu oblique singular, m (oblique plural lus, nominative singular lus, nominative plural lu)

1. wolf

Sassarese

Alternative forms

• l' (apocopic, before a vowel sound)
• -llu (pronoun, enclitic)
• -ru (pronoun, enclitic)

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *(il)lu, from Latin illum, accusative of ille (“that”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lu/, (after a vowel) /ru/

Article

lu m sg (plural li, feminine la)

1. the (masculine singular)

Usage notes

• Becomes l' before a vowel.

Inflection

Sassarese definite articles

	singular	plural
masculine	lu (l')	li (l')
feminine	la (l')

Pronoun

lu m (plural li, feminine la)

1. (followed by chi) that

   Di curori vi ni so umbè. Ca è lu chi tu priferi?

   There are lots of colors. Which one do you prefer?

   (literally, “Of colors there are a lot. Which one is that which you prefer?”)

2. him (accusative)

   Lu cunnosci? ― Do you know him?

3. it (accusative)

   Abà ti lu diggu ― Now I'll tell you (literally, “Now I tell it to you”)

References

• Rubattu, Antoninu (2006), Dizionario universale della lingua di Sardegna, 2nd edition, Sassari: Edes

Sicilian

Etymology 1

From the apheresis of Vulgar Latin *illu, from Latin illum, from ille.

Alternative forms

• u

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lu/ (stressed)
• IPA^(key): /lu/ (unstressed)

Article

lu m sg (f la, plural li)

1. (masculine singular definite article) the

   Synonym: u

Usage notes

• This article is nowadays an obsolete variant, unlike its illiquid counterpart u. It is currently used only in some restricted areas where it is still withheld in conversational communications.
• Today it is mostly used in crystallized contexts, such as singing, poetry or sayings and proverbs. In all these cases this definite article is more euphonetic than the variants, now predominant, which have undergone the lenition of the initial liquid consonant.
• Its use is however almost undisputed before nouns (or nominalized forms of other parts of speech, most often adjectives) that begin with vowels. In this case the form is an apocopic l'. Otherwise, illiquid definite articles are phonetically absorbed by the following noun. I.e: l'arancinu (liquid) and ârancinu (illiquid).

Inflection

Sicilian articles

		singular		plural
		masculine	feminine
indefinite article		nu, un, 'n	na	—
definite article	liquid	lu	la	li
	illiquid	u, û	a, â	i, î

Etymology 2

From the apheresis of Vulgar Latin *illu, from Latin illum, from ille.

Alternative forms

• -lu (enclitic)
• u (illiquid form)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lu/ (stressed)
• IPA^(key): /lu/ (unstressed)

Pronoun

lu m sg (masculine and feminine plural li, feminine la)

1. (accusative) him

   Synonym: u

   Lu canusci? ― Do you know him?

2. (accusative) it, this or that thing

   Synonym: u

   Quannu ti lu desi. ― When I gave it to you.

Usage notes

• This pronoun is now an obsolete variant. It is currently used only in some restricted areas where it is still withheld in conversational communications.
• Today it is mostly used in crystallized contexts, such as singing, poetry or sayings and proverbs. In all these cases this definite article is more euphonetic than the variants, now predominant, which have undergone the lenition of the initial liquid consonant.
• Its use is however almost undisputed before words that begin with vowels. In this case the form is an apocopic l'.

Sumerian

Romanization

lu

1. romanization of 𒇻 (lu)

Tocharian A

Etymology

From Proto-Tocharian *luwā-, from Proto-Indo-European *luh₂eh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- (“to seize, gain”). Compare Tocharian B luwo. Related to Old Church Slavonic ловъ (lovŭ, “hunt”), Serbo-Croatian lȏv (“chase; game animal”); compare also Ancient Greek λέων (léōn, “lion”).

Noun

lu

1. animal

Veps

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *luu, from Proto-Uralic *luwe.

Noun

lu

1. bone

Inflection

Inflection of lu (inflection type 13/ma)
nominative sing.	lu
genitive sing.	lun
partitive sing.	lud
partitive plur.	luid
	singular	plural
nominative	lu	lud
accusative	lun	lud
genitive	lun	luiden
partitive	lud	luid
essive-instructive	lun	luin
translative	luks	luikš
inessive	lus	luiš
elative	luspäi	luišpäi
illative	luhu	luihe
adessive	lul	luil
ablative	lulpäi	luilpäi
allative	lule	luile
abessive	luta	luita
comitative	lunke	luidenke
prolative	ludme	luidme
approximative I	lunno	luidenno
approximative II	lunnoks	luidennoks
egressive	lunnopäi	luidennopäi
terminative I	luhusai	luihesai
terminative II	lulesai	luilesai
terminative III	lussai	—
additive I	luhupäi	luihepäi
additive II	lulepäi	luilepäi

Derived terms

• hambazlu
• külʹglu
• melalu
• rindazlu
• ristlu

References

• Zajceva, N. G.; Mullonen, M. I. (2007), “кость”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎^[4], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

Vietnamese

Etymology

Compare Khmer លូ (luu, “large jar”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [lu˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [lʊw˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [lʊw˧˧]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

Noun

(classifier cái) lu

1. big vase used to contain water

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /lɨː/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /liː/

Noun

lu

1. soft mutation of llu

Mutation

Mutated forms of llu

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
llu	lu	unchanged	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Zazaki

Alternative forms

• lû

Noun

lu

1. fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Zou

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lu˧/

Noun

lu

1. head

References

• Lukram Himmat Singh (2013), A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 42