lu

See also: Appendix:Variations of "lu"

Translingual

Symbol

lu

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

English

Noun

lu (uncountable)

Archaic form of loo (“card game”).

Verb

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

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

Etymology 2

A romanization of Chinese 路 (“route”)

Noun

lu (usually uncountable, plural lus)

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

References

lu in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

UL, Ul, ul

Aiwoo

Noun

lu

life

References

Ross, M. & Næss, Å. (2007), “An Oceanic origin for Äiwoo, the language of the Reef Islands?”, in Oceanic Linguistics, volume 46, issue 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

Third-person singular direct object; him, it

Basque

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lu/, [lu]

Noun

lu inan

pussy, vagina

Declension

Declension of lu (inanimate, ending in vowel)
	indefinite	singular	plural
absolutive	lu	lua	luak
ergative	luk	luak	luek
dative	luri	luari	luei
genitive	luren	luaren	luen
comitative	lurekin	luarekin	luekin
causative	lurengatik	luarengatik	luengatik
benefactive	lurentzat	luarentzat	luentzat
instrumental	luz	luaz	luez
inessive	lutan	luan	luetan
locative	lutako	luko	luetako
allative	lutara	lura	luetara
terminative	lutaraino	luraino	luetaraino
directive	lutarantz	lurantz	luetarantz
destinative	lutarako	lurako	luetarako
ablative	lutatik	lutik	luetatik
partitive	lurik	—	—
prolative	lutzat	—	—

Chinese

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

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

Archaic form of u.

Pronoun

lu

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

imperative of lue

French

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ly/
Audio (file)

Participle

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

past participle of lire

Friulian

Etymology

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

Pronoun

lu (third person masculine direct object)

him

Related terms

lui
i

Hausa

Pronunciation

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

Ideophone

lû

swinging motion

Ido

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lu/

Pronoun

lu (plural li)

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)

Indonesian

Etymology

From Betawi Udik lo (“you”), from Hokkien 汝 (lú). Doublet of lo.

Pronoun

lu

(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)

Japanese

Romanization

lu

Rōmaji transcription of る゚
Rōmaji transcription of ル゚

Jingpho

Etymology

Borrowed from Burmese လှူ (hlu).

Verb

lu

to offer
to donate

References

Kurabe, Keita (2016-12-31), “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, in Kyoto University Linguistic Research‎, volume 35, DOI:10.14989/219015, ISSN 1349-7804, pages 91–128

Mandarin

Romanization

lu (lu⁵ / lu⁰, Zhuyin ˙ㄌㄨ)

Hanyu Pinyin reading of 氌／氇.

lu

Nonstandard spelling of lū.
Nonstandard spelling of lú.
Nonstandard spelling of lǔ.
Nonstandard spelling of lù.
Nonstandard spelling of lǖ.
Nonstandard spelling of lǘ.
Nonstandard spelling of lǚ.
Nonstandard spelling of lǜ.

Usage notes

English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

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.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lu¹/

Noun

lu

(Mường Bi) thigh
Synonym: tùi

Neapolitan

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lu/

Pronoun

lu

Alternative form of 'u

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

lu m

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

References

Ivar Aasen (1850), “Lu”, in Ordbog over det norske Folkesprog, Oslo: Samlaget, published 2000

Old French

Alternative forms

lou, leu

Etymology

Reduced form of Latin lupus.

Noun

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

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/

Article

lu m sg (plural li, feminine la)

Sassarese definite articles
	singular	plural
masculine	lu/l'	li/l'
feminine	la/l'	li/l'

the (masculine singular)

Usage notes

Becomes l' before a vowel.

Pronoun

lu m (plural li, feminine la)

(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?”)
him (accusative)
Lu cunnosci? ― Do you know him?
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): /lʊ/ (unstressed)

Article

lu m sg (f la, plural li)

(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
	Masculine singular definite article	Feminine singular definite article	Masculine and feminine plural definite article
Definite articles (liquid)	lu	la	li
Definite articles (illiquid)	u	a	i
Definite articles	nu (also: un,'n)	na

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): /lʊ/ (unstressed)

Pronoun

lu m sg (plural li, female la)

(accusative) him
Lu canusci? ― Do you know him?
Synonym: u
(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'.

Tocharian A

Etymology

Probably from Proto-Indo-European *luh_xeh₂, through a Proto-Tocharian *luwā-. Compare Tocharian B luwo. May be distantly related Old Church Slavonic ловъ (lovŭ, “the chase”), Serbo-Croatian lȏv (“chase; game animal”); cf. also Ancient Greek λέων (léōn, “lion”).

Noun

lu

animal

Veps

Etymology

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

Noun

lu

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
kül'glu
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], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

Vietnamese

Etymology

Compare Khmer លូ (luu, “large jar”).

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [lu˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [lʊw˧˧]
(Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [lʊw˧˧]

Noun

(classifier cái) lu

big vase used to contain water

Welsh

Pronunciation

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

Noun

lu

Soft mutation of llu.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
llu	lu	unchanged	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Zazaki

Alternative forms

lû

Noun

lu ?

fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Zou

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lu˧/

Noun

lu

head

References

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