nu

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "nu"
Languages (69)
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English

Ancient Greek Alphabet
←
mu
 →
xi
Ν ν
Ancient Greek: νῦ
Wikipedia article on nu

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek νῦ (nû), name for the letter of the Greek alphabet Ν (N) and ν (n).

Pronunciation

Noun

nu (countable and uncountable, plural nus)

  1. The letter of the Greek alphabet Ν (N) and ν (n).
  2. A measure of constringence in lenses or prisms.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Yiddish נו (nu).

Pronunciation

Interjection

nu

  1. (Jewish) An exclamation of surprise, emphasis, doubt, etc.
  2. (Jewish) Well? (Used as a question to demand an answer from someone reluctant to answer.)
Translations

Etymology 3

Phonetic respelling of new.

Adjective

nu (comparative more nu, superlative most nu)

  1. (slang spelling) new
Derived terms

See also

etymologically unrelated terms containing the word "nu"

Anagrams

Ainu

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Verb

nu (Kana spelling ヌ)

  1. (transitive) to hear
  2. (transitive) to sense (a smell)
  3. (possibly obsolete, transitive, + otta) to ask, enquire

Derived terms

  • inu (“to listen”)

Äiwoo

Verb

nu

  1. to drink

References

Ajië

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *niuʀ, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *niuʀ.

Noun

nu

  1. coconut

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *nu, from Proto-Indo-European *nu (“now”). Related to ni. Compare Ancient Greek νῦν (nûn), Old High German nu (“now”).[1]

Adverb

nu

  1. when

References

  1. ^ Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “nu”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 301

Alemannic German

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle High German nūn, from Middle High German niuwan, variant of niuwar, from Old High German niwāri. Cognate with German nur.

Alternative forms

Adverb

nu

  1. only

Etymology 2

From Middle High German nu, from Old High German nu. Cognate with German nun.

Alternative forms

Adverb

nu

  1. now
    Synonym: jetz

Etymology 3

Historical or dialectal variants.

Adverb

nu

  1. Alternative form of no

Ama

Pronunciation

Noun

nu

  1. house

Aromanian

Etymology

From Latin nōn. Compare Romanian nu.

Adverb

nu

  1. no
  2. not

Interjection

nu

  1. no

Antonyms

Au

Noun

nu

  1. tree

References

  • Scorza, David. Au language word, phrase, clause. Ms. 82pp. (1976)

Blagar

Pronunciation

Numeral

nu

  1. one

References

  • W. A. L. Stokhof, Preliminary notes on the Alor and Pantar languages (East Indonesia) (1975)
  • Internet Archive, The Rosetta Project, Blagar Swadesh List

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin nūdus, from Proto-Indo-European *nogʷós.

Pronunciation

Adjective

nu (feminine nua, masculine plural nus, feminine plural nues)

  1. nude, naked
  2. (of things, such as trees, mountains, houses, etc.) barren, bare

Derived terms

Dalmatian

Etymology 1

From Latin novem.

Numeral

nu

  1. nine

Etymology 2

From Latin nōs.

Pronoun

nu

  1. (second-person plural pronoun) we

See also

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse nú (“now”), from Proto-Germanic *nu (“now”), from Proto-Indo-European *nu (“now”). Cognate with English now.

Pronunciation

Noun

nu n (singular definite nuet, not used in plural form)

  1. now (present time), present (current time)
  2. moment
  3. instant

Adverb

nu

  1. now

Synonyms

Conjunction

nu

  1. now

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch nu, from Old Dutch nū, from Proto-Germanic *nu.

Adverb

nu

  1. now, at the present moment
    Kom je nu of morgen?
    Will you be coming now or tomorrow?
  2. now, this time (indicating a certain amount of impatience)
    Wat is er nu weer dan?
    What is it now?
Synonyms
Descendants
  • Negerhollands: nue, nu, noe, nou
  • Skepi Creole Dutch: nou

Conjunction

nu

  1. now (that)
    Nu je het zegt, weet ik het weer.
    Now you're saying it, I do remember it.

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek νῦ (nû). Doublet of noen.

Noun

nu m (plural nu's, diminutive nuutje n)

  1. n (letter of the Greek alphabet)

Further reading

East Central German

Etymology

From Sorbian or Czech. Cf. no.

Pronunciation

Adverb

nu

  1. (Upper Saxon) yes

Elfdalian

Etymology

From Old Norse nú, from Proto-Germanic *nu. Cognate with Swedish nu.

Adverb

nu

  1. now, at this time

Esperanto

Etymology

From Russian ну (nu) and German nu, of Slavic origin. Compare Polish no, Latvian nu, Czech no.

Pronunciation

Interjection

nu

  1. well (filled pause, particularly at the beginning of a response to a question)
    Nu, li diris, ke li ne volas ĉeesti la feston.
    Well, he said he doesn't want to attend the party.

Ewe

Noun

nu

  1. mouth

French

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French nu, from Latin nūdus, from Proto-Indo-European *nogʷós.

Adjective

nu (feminine nue, masculine plural nus, feminine plural nues)

  1. (person): naked, nude
  2. (body, tree): bare
Derived terms

Noun

nu m (plural nus)

  1. (art) nude
Descendants
  • → Russian: ню (nju)
  • → Ukrainian: ню (nju)

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek νῦ (nû).

Noun

nu m (plural nu or nus)

  1. nu (Greek letter)

Further reading

Anagrams

Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese nuu, from Latin nūdus, from Proto-Indo-European *nogʷós. Cognate with Portuguese nu.

Adjective

nu (feminine núa, masculine plural nus, feminine plural núas)

  1. naked, nude
  2. bare, barren

Gaulish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *nu, from Proto-Indo-European *nu.

Pronunciation

IPA(key): [nu]

Adverb

nu

  1. now

German

Etymology 1

From Middle High German nu, nuo. The form without a final -n remained common in some dialects and was reinforced by German Low German nu, from Middle Low German nû.

Pronunciation

Adverb

nu

  1. (colloquial or archaic) Alternative form of nun
Derived terms

Interjection

nu

  1. (colloquial or archaic) Alternative form of nun

Etymology 2

From a Slavic dialect, probably Sorbian. Compare Czech ano (“yes”), Polish no (“yeah; well”), Russian ну (nu, “yeah; well”). In the sense of a filled pause touching on etymology 1 above.

Pronunciation

Interjection

nu

  1. (colloquial, regional, Saxony) yes; yeah; expresses agreement or understanding
  2. (colloquial, regional, Saxony) well; fills pause

Gothic

Romanization

nu

  1. Romanization of 𐌽𐌿

Iaai

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *niuʀ, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *niuʀ.

Pronunciation

Noun

nu

  1. coconut palm

Ingrian

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian ну (nu).

Pronunciation

Interjection

nu

  1. Synonym of no (“well”)

References

  • Elena Markus (2024) “Syntax and functions of the Ingrian discourse particles no and nu”, in Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri, volume 15, number 1, pages 155-186

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈnu/
  • Rhymes: -u
  • Hyphenation: nù

Noun

nu m or f (invariable)

  1. the name of the letter N

Anagrams

Japanese

Romanization

nu

  1. The hiragana syllable ぬ (nu) or the katakana syllable ヌ (nu) in Hepburn romanization.

Kabuverdianu

Etymology

From Portuguese nós.

Pronoun

nu

  1. we

References

  • Gonçalves, Manuel (2015) Capeverdean Creole-English dictionary, →ISBN

Kosraean

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ñiuʀ. Compare Pohnpeian nih, Fijian niu, Tongan niu, Hawaiian niu.

Pronunciation

Noun

nu

  1. coconut

Lashi

Nu da.

Etymology 1

From Proto-Lolo-Burmese [Term?], from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ŋwa. Cognates include Burmese နွား (nwa:) and Chinese 牛 (niú).

Pronunciation

Noun

nu

  1. cow

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Adjective

nu

  1. talkative

References

  • Hkaw Luk (2017) A grammatical sketch of Lacid‎[2], Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis)

Latvian

Particle

nu

  1. well
    Nu labi! ― Very well!
  2. now
    Ko nu? ― What now?

Interjection

nu

  1. well
    Nu, kas notika? ― Well, what happened?

Mandarin

Romanization

nu

  1. Nonstandard spelling of nú.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of nǔ.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of nù.
  4. Nonstandard spelling of nǘ.
  5. Nonstandard spelling of nǚ.
  6. Nonstandard spelling of nǜ.

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.

Mauritian Creole

Pronoun

nu

  1. Alternative spelling of nou

See also

Mauritian Creole personal pronouns
singular plural
1st person mo
mwa (objective) 		nou
2nd person to (informal), ou (formal)
twa (objective) 		zot
3rd person li zot, bann-la

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch nu, from Proto-Germanic *nu.

Adverb

nu

  1. now, currently
  2. today
  3. here
  4. just now

Descendants

  • Dutch: nu
  • Limburgish: noe

Conjunction

nu

  1. now that
  2. since, because

Descendants

  • Dutch: nu
  • Limburgish: noe

Further reading

  • “nu”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
  • Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “nu (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

Middle English

Adverb

nu

  1. Alternative spelling of nou

Muong

Etymology

Cognate with Vietnamese nâu.

Pronunciation

Adjective

nu

  1. (Mường Bi) brown

Neapolitan

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin ūnus.

Pronunciation

Article

nu m sg

  1. a, an

Norman

Etymology

From Old French nu, from Latin nūdus.

Adjective

nu m

  1. (Jersey) bare

Northern Sami

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • (Kautokeino) IPA(key): /ˈnuː/

Adverb

nū

  1. so, thus, like that
  2. so, to that extent

Further reading

  • Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎[3], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Noun

nu m (definite singular nuen, indefinite plural nuer, definite plural nuene)

  1. a trough

Etymology 2

From Old Norse nú.

Adverb

nu

  1. (archaic or dialectal) now; Alternative form of nå

Interjection

nu

  1. Alternative form of nå

Noun

nu n (definite singular nuet, uncountable)

  1. Alternative form of nå

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Noun

nu m (definite singular nuen, indefinite plural nuar, definite plural nuane)

  1. a trough

Etymology 2

From Old Norse nú.

Adverb

nu

  1. (dialectal) now; Alternative form of no

Interjection

nu

  1. Alternative form of no

Noun

nu n (definite singular nuet, uncountable)

  1. Alternative form of no

References

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *nu.

Adverb

nū

  1. now
    • wat unbidan we nu?
      what are we waiting for now?

Descendants

  • Middle Dutch: nu

Further reading

  • “nū (I)”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *nū, from Proto-Germanic *nu.

Pronunciation

Adverb

nū

  1. now
    Iċ eom nū on þǣre cyċenan.
    I'm in the kitchen right now.
  2. just (in the sense "recently")
    Iċ wæs nū on þǣre cyċenan.
    I was just in the kitchen.
  3. since
    • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy
      Nū ðū þæt swā openlīce onġiten hæfst, ne þearfe ic nū nauht swīþe ymbe þ swincan þæt ic þē mā be gode recce.
      Since thou hast so clearly understood this, I need not now greatly labour in order that I may instruct thee further concerning good;...
    • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy
      Þȳ iċ wundriġe hwȳ þū ne mæġe onġietan þæt þū eart nū ġīet swīðe ġesǣliġ, nū þū ġīet leofast and eart hāl.
      So I wonder why you can't understand that you're still very lucky, since you're still alive and healthy.
    • late 10th century, Ælfric, "The Seven Sleepers"
      Nu ge þam mærum godum offrian nellað, ne beo ge me næfre heonon-forð swa wurðe ne swa leofe swa ge ær wæron...
      Since ye will not offer to the great gods, ye shall never henceforth be to me so worthy nor so dear as ye were before;...

Derived terms

Descendants

Conjunction

nū

  1. now that

Old French

Etymology

From Latin nūdus.

Adjective

nu m (oblique and nominative feminine singular nue)

  1. naked

Adverb

nu m (feminine nue)

  1. naked

Descendants

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *nu.

Adverb

nū

  1. now

Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative scripts

Etymology

From Sanskrit नु (nu), from Proto-Indo-European *nu.

Particle

nu

  1. then, now

Pará Arára

Alternative forms

forms used in “pet talk”, when talking to a specific animal[1]

Noun

nu

  1. tumour; abscess

References

  1. 2010, Isaac Costa de Souza, A Phonological Description of “Pet Talk” in Arara (MA), SIL Brazil, page 42.

Phalura

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

Pronoun

nu (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling نوۡ)

  1. it
  2. he
  3. this one (prox masc nom)

References

  • Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “nu”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎[4], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

Determiner

nu (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling نوۡ)

  1. this (agr: prox nom masc)

References

  • Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “nu”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎[5], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

Plautdietsch

Adverb

nu

  1. now

Polish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Template:pl-p

Interjection

nu

  1. quick!, forward!
  2. (dialectal) Alternative form of no

See also

Further reading

Portuguese

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese nuu, from Latin nūdum. Compare Galician nu, Italian nudo, French nu.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -u
  • Hyphenation: nu

Adjective

nu (feminine nua, masculine plural nus, feminine plural nuas)

  1. naked, nude

Derived terms

Prasuni

Etymology

From Proto-Nuristani, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hnáwa, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥.

Pronunciation

Numeral

Prasuni cardinal numbers
 <  8 9 10  > 
    Cardinal : nu

nu (Pronz)[1]

  1. nine

References

  1. ^ Strand, Richard F. (2016) “nu”, in Nûristânî Etymological Lexicon‎[1]

Romanian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Latin nōn. Compare Aromanian nu.

Pronunciation

Adverb

nu

  1. no
  2. not

Usage notes

Romanian features the double negative. Nu is stressed within a normal sentence, but in a double negative construction is left unstressed in favour of the other negative component.

In speech—even in moderately formal contexts—nu is elided before verbs beginning with a, most notably the past perfect auxiliary avea.

Likewise, nu triggers prodelision before words (of any part of speech) beginning with î. Elision and prodelision are orthographically marked with a hyphen where no line break may occur.

In these cases, the syllable following the n of nu takes the sentence stress, which is stronger than the primary stress of the negated word.

Antonyms

References

Saterland Frisian

Interjection

nu

  1. well

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *nǫ.

Pronunciation

Conjunction

nu (Cyrillic spelling ну)

  1. (Croatia) but
  2. (Croatia) however

Synonyms

Shuar

Determiner

nu

  1. that, those

References

  • Chicham: Dictionario Enciclopédico Shuar-Castellano

Sicilian

Article

nu m sg

  1. (indefinite) a, an

Usage notes

Nu is used only before words beginning with the letter z or s and a consonant, like the Italian uno

See also

Sicilian articles
Masculine Feminine
indefinite singular un, nu na
definite singular lu, û la, â
definite plural li, î li, î

South Slavey

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [nù(ʔ)]
  • Hyphenation: nu

Noun

nu (stem -nu-)

  1. Ford Liard form of ndu

Inflection

Possessive inflection of nu (-nué)
singular plural
1st person senué naxenué
2nd person nenué
3rd person 1) — ginué
2) menué gonué
4th person yenué
reflexive sp. ɂedenué kedenué
unsp. denué
reciprocal — ɂełenué
indefinite ɂenué
areal gonué
1) Used when the subject is a group of human beings and the object is singular.
2) Used when the previous condition does not apply.

References

  • Keren Rice (1989) A Grammar of Slave, Berlin, West Germany: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 11

Sumerian

Romanization

nu

  1. Romanization of 𒉡 (nu)

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse nú, from Proto-Germanic *nu.

Pronunciation

Adverb

nu (not comparable)

  1. now, at this moment

References

Tày

Etymology

From Proto-Tai *ʰnuːᴬ. Cognate with Thai หนู (nǔu), Northern Thai ᩉ᩠ᨶᩪ, Lao ໜູ (nū), Tai Dam ꪘꪴ, Lü ᦐᦴ (ṅuu), Shan ၼူ (nǔu), Zhuang nou, Saek หนู่.

Pronunciation

Noun

nu (𪺹, 𮮬)

  1. (zoology) mouse

References

  • Lục Văn Pảo, Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003) Hoàng Triều Ân, editor, Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày [A Dictionary of (chữ) Nôm Tày]‎[6] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học Xã hội
  • Lương Bèn (2011) Từ điển Tày-Việt [Tay-Vietnamese dictionary]‎[7][8] (in Vietnamese), Thái Nguyên: Nhà Xuất bản Đại học Thái Nguyên

Tetum

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *niuʀ.

Noun

nu

  1. coconut

Further reading

  • Fransiskus Monteiro (1985) Kamus Tetun-Indonesia [Tetum-Indonesian Dictionary] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English new.

Adjective

nu

  1. new
  2. fresh

Tooro

Pronunciation

Determiner

-nu

  1. this, these (proximal demonstrative determiner)

Declension

Inflected forms of -nu
Noun class non-copulative copulative
singular plural singular plural
1/2 onu banu ngunu mbanu
3/4 gunu enu ngunu nginu
5/6 linu ganu ndinu nganu
7/8 kinu binu nkinu mbinu
9/10 enu zinu nginu nzinu
11/10 runu ndunu
12/14 kanu bunu nkanu mbunu
13 tunu ntunu
14/6 bunu ganu mbunu nganu
15/6 kunu nkunu
16 hanu mpanu
17 kunu
18 munu

Derived terms

See also

  • -li (“that (distal demonstrative determiner)”)

References

  • Kaji, Shigeki (2007) A Rutooro Vocabulary‎[9], Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), →ISBN, page 405

Volapük

Adverb

nu

  1. now

Derived terms

Wauja

Pronunciation

Pronoun

nu

  1. me (first-person singular indirect object pronoun)
    Pinyanka nu! Katsa umawiu? Nama!
    Tell me! What did [he] say? Come on!
    Puputatain nu kuapi.
    Give me a little [bit of] cotton thread.
  • natu (I,me, my, mine)

References

  • E. Ireland field notes. Needs to be checked by a native speaker.

Wolof

Pronoun

nu

  1. we (first-person plural object pronoun)

See also

Wolof personal pronouns
singular subject plural subject singular object plural object
1st person man nun ma nu
2nd person yow yeen la leen
3rd person moom ñoom ko leen

Zia

Pronoun

nu

  1. he
  2. she

Zou

Pronunciation

Noun

nu

  1. mother

References

  • Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 45
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