CS Knowledge Base

Clipping of English Luba or Luba-Katanga Kiluba.

lu

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

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Luba-Katanga terms

• IPA^(key): /luː/
• Homophones: loo, Lou; lew, lieu, Liu (yod-dropping)
• Rhymes: -uː

lu (uncountable)

1. Archaic form of loo (“card game”).

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”).

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

lu (usually uncountable, plural lus)

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

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

• UL, Ul, ul

Inherited from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k-la.

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

lu

1. tiger, leopard

lu

1. life

   Nyekuuia käsä laki laki go näkitokä doo lu nugudeto ileke.

   The change will happen bit by bit so that it will be suited to our life now.

• Næss, Åshild (2017), “lu”, in A short dictionary of Äiwoo (Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia; A-PL 35)‎^[2], Canberra, ACT: Asia-Pacific Linguistics, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, page 61
• Ross, Malcolm; Næss, Åshild (December 2007), “An Oceanic origin for Äiwoo, the language of the Reef Islands?”, in Oceanic Linguistics‎^[3], volume 46, number 2, Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, →DOI, pages 456–98

• llu (obsolete except Pixuetu, and sparcely Southwestern)
• ḷḷu (Patsuezu)

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

lu, la f, lo n

1. accusative of elli (third-person singular direct object) him, it

   Da-ylo

   Give it to him

   Llámalu

   Call him

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

lu

1. pestle for pounding rice

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

Unknown. Potentially compare Iberian lu (“deep”)

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

lu inan

1. pussy, vagina

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

Borrowed from Hokkien 汝 (lú, “you”).

• IPA^(key): /lu/

  • Audio:

    (file)

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

  • Audio:

    (file)

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

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)

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.

• énté

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

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

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

lu m (plural luyow)

1. army, troop, fleet

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

lu

1. archaic form of u

lu

1. archaic form of u

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

lu

1. imperative of lue

• IPA^(key): /ly/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

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

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

1. past participle of lire

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

lu (third person masculine direct object)

1. him

• lui
• i

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

lû

1. swinging motion

Unknown. Possibly compare Basque alu (“vagina”)

lu

1. deep

   tekeŕ lu keś ir

   A deep votive action

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

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

• IPA^(key): /lu/

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.

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.

• li (“they, them”)
• lua

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

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

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

lu

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

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)

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *luheq.

lu

1. tear

lu

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

Borrowed from Burmese လှူ (hlu).

lu

1. to offer
2. to donate

• Kurabe, Keita (31 December 2016), “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, in Kyoto University Linguistic Research‎^[4], volume 35, →DOI, →ISSN, archived from the original on 3 December 2024, pages 91–128

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

lu

1. they (third person plural)

   Synonym: (preposed) ilu

lu

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

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *law, from Proto-Tibeto-Burman *low.^[1]

lu

1. farm, field^[2]

   Lu ca ina thlu pa.

   He tills the field for me.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlu/ [ˈlu]
• Rhymes: -u

Borrowed from Hokkien 汝 (lú).

lu (Jawi spelling لو)

1. (Singapore, colloquial) you

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

Clipping of dulu.

lu (Jawi spelling لو)

1. (colloquial) alternative form of dulu

   Aku gerak lu.

   I'm going first.

• "lu" in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu (PRPM) [Malay Literary Reference Centre (PRPM)] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017
  (also see "lu" at PRPM first version)

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

• 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.

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

lu

1. head

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

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).

• IPA^(key): /lu¹/

lu

1. (Mường Bi) thigh

   Synonym: tùi

Inherited from Latin illum.

• IPA^(key): /lu/

lu

1. alternative form of 'u

lu m

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

• Ivar Aasen (1850), “Lu”, in Ordbog over det norske Folkesprog‎^[5] (in Danish), Oslo: Samlaget, published 2000

• lou, leu

Reduced form of Latin lupus.

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

1. wolf

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

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

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

lu m sg (plural li, feminine la)

1. the (masculine singular)

• Becomes l' before a vowel.

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”)

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

• IPA^(key): /lu/ (stressed)
• IPA^(key): [lʊ] (unstressed)
• Rhymes: -u, -ʊ
• Hyphenation: lù

From the apheresis of Vulgar Latin *(il)lu, from Latin illum, from ille. Cognate with Italian il ~ lo, Neapolitan lu ~ lo, Spanish el, French le. Akin to ḍḍu (“that”) and its collateral chiḍḍu (“that”).

• u (illiquid variant)

lu m sg (f la, plural li)

1. (masculine singular definite article) the

   Synonym: u

• 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).

See etymology 1.

• -lu (enclitic)
• u (illiquid form)

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.

• 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'.

lu

1. romanization of 𒇻 (lu)

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”).

lu

1. animal

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

lu

1. bone

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

• hambazlu
• külʹglu
• melalu
• rindazlu
• ristlu

• Zajceva, N. G.; Mullonen, M. I. (2007), “кость”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎^[6], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

Compare Khmer លូ (luu, “large jar”).

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

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

lu (classifier cái)

1. big vase used to contain water

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

lu

1. soft mutation of llu

• lû

lu

1. fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Compare Chinese 了.

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /lu˨˦/
• Tone numbers: lu¹
• Hyphenation: lu

lu (1957–1982 spelling lu)

1. Used at the end of a sentence to indicate a change of state.
2. Used at the end of a sentence to demand.

   Gaej daej lu. ― Don't cry.

• le
• lo
• lune

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *luu.

• IPA^(key): [lū]
• Hyphenation: lu

lu

1. head

• Philip Thangliènmâng (2010), Minimal dictionary and Self-tutor Functional Grammar in Zo-English-Hindi, New Delhi: Zoculsin, →ISBN, page 21
• Lukram Himmat Singh (2013), A Descriptive Grammar of Zou (PhD thesis), Canchipur: Manipur University, page 42