الو

See also: آلو and ألو

Bulgar

Etymology 1

From Proto-Turkic *elig.

Noun

الُو (elüw)

1. hand

Derived terms

• الُوي بَڔَكاتلُ (elüwi berekētlü, “benefactor”)

Descendants

• Chuvash: алӑ (ală)

References

• Tekin, Talât (1988) Volga Bulgar kitabeleri ve Volga Bulgarcası [Volga Bulgarian Ephitaphs and Volga Bulgarian Language]‎^[1] (in Turkish), Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, →ISBN, pages 190-191

Etymology 2

From Proto-Turkic *ellig.

Alternative forms

• اَلُّ (ellü)

Noun

الُو (el^lüw)

1. fifty

Descendants

• Chuvash: аллӑ (allă)

References

• Tekin, Talât (1988) Volga Bulgar kitabeleri ve Volga Bulgarcası [Volga Bulgarian Ephitaphs and Volga Bulgarian Language]‎^[2] (in Turkish), Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, →ISBN, pages 94, 198

---

Burushaski

Etymology

Borrowed from Urdu آلُو (ālū).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [aːluː]

Noun

الو (aaluu)

1. potato

References

• Bechtholdt, Astrid (2024) “aaluu”, in Burushaski Hunza Dictionary (Webonary) (in Burushaski), Dallas, Texas, USA: SIL International, published 2017: “(in Latin script)”.

---

Malay

Alternative forms

• alu

Etymology

From Proto-Malayic *halu, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qahəlu, *laqəlu, from Proto-Austronesian *qaSəlu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alu/
• Rhymes: -alu, -lu, -u

Noun

الو (Rumi spelling alu)

1. pestle (instrument used with a mortar to grind things)

Pashto

Noun

الو • (alu)

1. plum
2. potato

Persian

Alternative forms

• آلاوه (âlâve) (archaic)
• آلاو (âlâv) (archaic)
• الاو (alâv) (archaic)

Etymology 1

A Turkic borrowing, compare Azerbaijani alov, Turkish alev, Kazakh алау (alau).

Noun

Dari	الو
Iranian Persian
Tajik	алов

الو • (alow)

1. (dialectal) flame, blaze

Etymology 2

From French allô.

Interjection

الو • (alo)

1. hello (when answering the telephone)

Urdu

Etymology

Inherited from Prakrit 𑀉𑀮𑀽𑀅 (ulūa), from Sanskrit उलूक (úlūka). Cognate with Gujarati ઉલ્લૂ (ullū) and Punjabi الو (ullū).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ʊl.luː/
• Rhymes: -uː

Noun

اُلُّو • (ullū) m (Hindi spelling उल्लू)

1. owl
2. (slang, offensive) idiot, fool

Further reading

• “الو”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “الو”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “الو”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• Platts, John T. (1884) “الو”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
• S. W. Fallon (1879) “الو”, in A New Hindustani-English Dictionary, Banaras, London: Trubner and Co.
• John Shakespear (1834) “الو”, in A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani, 3^rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC