seu

See also: SEU, seü, sèu, séú, sɛu, and sếu

Aromanian

Etymology

From Latin sēbum. Compare Romanian seu.

Noun

seu n (plural seuri)

animal fat, suet, tallow

Catalan

Etymology 1

From Old Catalan sou (feminine sua), from Latin suum, from Proto-Italic *sowos, from Proto-Indo-European *sewos, from *swé (“self”).. The original stem was modified by analogy with meu.

The weak form son is also from Latin suum in an unstressed (monosyllabic) position.

Alternative forms

sou (Algherese)

Pronunciation

(Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈsew/

Pronoun

seu (feminine seva or seua, masculine plural seus, feminine plural seves or seues)

his, her/hers, its
their, theirs
your, yours (alluding to vostè or vostès)

Usage notes

When preceding a noun, seu is always preceded by the appropriate definite article.
The third person possessive changes form for number and gender according to the number and gender of the item possessed, not the number and gender of the possessor.

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

	strong/subject	weak (direct object)		weak (indirect object)		possessive
singular		proclitic	enclitic	proclitic	enclitic
1st person	jo, mi³	em, m’	-me, ’m	em, m’	-me, ’m	meu
1st person majestic¹	nós	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	tu	et, t’	-te, ’t	et, t’	-te, ’t	teu
2nd person formal¹	vós	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person very formal²	vostè	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person masculine	ell	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person feminine	ella	la, l’⁴	-la	li	-li	seu
3rd person neuter		ho	-ho	li	-li	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
plural
1st person	nosaltres	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	vosaltres	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person formal²	vostès	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person masculine	ells	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person feminine	elles	les	-les	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
adverbial
ablative/genitive		en, n’	-ne, ’n
locative		hi	-hi
¹⁾ Behaves grammatically as plural. ²⁾ Behaves grammatically as third person.			³⁾ Only as object of a preposition. ⁴⁾ Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-.

Etymology 2

From Latin sedem.

Pronunciation

(Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛw/

Noun

seu f (plural seus)

seat

Synonyms

central

Etymology 3

See seure.

Pronunciation

(Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛw/

Verb

seu

third-person singular present indicative form of seure
second-person singular imperative form of seure

Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese seu, from an older sou (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria; it fell out of use during the 14th century), from Latin suus.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈsɛw], [ˈsew]

Pronoun

seu m (masculine singular seu, masculine plural seus, feminine singular súa, feminine plural súas)

(possessive) his, hers, its
(possessive) their

References

“sou” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
“seu” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
“seu” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
“seu” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
“seu” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Guinea-Bissau Creole

Etymology

From Portuguese céu. Cognate with Kabuverdianu seu.

Noun

seu

sky

Kabuverdianu

Etymology

From Portuguese céu.

Noun

seu

sky

Latin

Etymology

Apocope of sīve.

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /seu̯/, [s̠ɛu̯]

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /seu̯/, [sɛːu̯]

Conjunction

seu

or
either... or... (seu... seu...)

Descendants

Romanian: sau

References

“seu”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“seu”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
seu in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
seu in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette

Ligurian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /søː/

Etymology 1

From Latin suus, from Proto-Italic *sowos, from Proto-Indo-European *sewos, derived from *swé (“self”).

Adjective

-

his
her
its
their

Pronoun

seu (invariable)

Third-person singular possessive pronoun
1. his
2. hers
3. its
Third-person plural possessive pronoun; theirs

Synonyms

sò

Etymology 2

From Latin soror, from Proto-Italic *swezōr, from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr.

Noun

seu f (invariable)

sister

Nyishi

Alternative forms

su

Noun

seu

cattle, cow

References

P. T. Abraham (2005) A Grammar of Nyishi Language‎, Delhi: Farsight Publishers and Distributors

Old French

Alternative forms

seü (diaereses not universally used in transcriptions of Old French)

Verb

seu

past participle of savoir

Old Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin suus.

Pronoun

seu m (plural seus, feminine sa, feminine plural sas)

third-person singular possessive pronoun: his, her, its
- 13th century CE, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, E codex, cantiga 7 (facsimile):
  Eſta e como ſanta Maria liurou a Abadeſſa prenne q̇ adormecera anto ſeu Altar chorando.
  This one is about how Holy Mary acquitted the pregnant abbess who had fallen asleep crying in front of her altar.

Descendants

Fala: sei
Galician: seu
Portuguese: seu

Portuguese

Pronunciation

(Brazil) IPA^(key): /sew/ [seʊ̯]

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /sew/

Hyphenation: seu

Etymology 1

From Old Portuguese seu, sou, from Latin suus, from Proto-Italic *sowos, from Proto-Indo-European *sewos, from *swé (“self”).

Pronoun

seu (feminine sua)

Third-person singular possessive pronoun. his; her; its
- 2000, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter e o Prisioneiro de Azkaban [Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban] (Harry Potter; 3), Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, →ISBN, page 240:
  Era difícil dizer se a professora os ouvira, pois seu rosto estava oculto pelas sombras.
  It was difficult to tell whether the teacher had heard them, because her face was hidden by the shadows.
- 2003, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix [Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix] (Harry Potter; 5), Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, →ISBN, page 417:
  Então o sorriso reapareceu em seu rosto [...]
  Then the smile reappeared in his face [...]
- 2005, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter e o Enigma do Príncipe [Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince] (Harry Potter; 6), Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, →ISBN, page 135:
  [...] seu vocabulário tinha apenas cinco palavras [...]
  [...] his vocabulary had only five words [...]
Third-person plural possessive pronoun. their; theirs
Second-person singular possessive pronoun. your; yours (when using the second-person pronoun você)
Posso ficar na sua casa?
Can I stay at your house?
Second-person plural possessive pronoun. your; yours (when using the second-person pronoun vocês)
you (used before epithets for emphasis)
Seu idiota!
You idiot! (addressing one man)
Suas idiotas.
You idiots! (addressing a group of women)

Usage notes

Inflects according to the object’s (possessee's) gender and number. In the third person (singular and plural) the possessor can often be ambiguous in which case seu/sua/seus/suas gets replaced with dele (“his”) or dela (“hers”), placed after the possessee; or with deles (“theirs”) or delas for plural possessors.

Synonyms

(your): teu, de você

Etymology 2

From senhor, from Old Portuguese sennor, from Latin senior (“older”), comparative of senex (“old”), from Proto-Indo-European *sénos (“old”).

Noun

seu m (uncountable)

(familiar) mister (as a form of address)
Synonym: senhor
Estive com o seu Luís ontem.
I was with Mr. Luís yesterday.

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin sēbum, from Proto-Indo-European *seyb- (“to pour out”).

Noun

seu n (plural seuri)

animal fat
suet
tallow