cu

See also: Appendix:Variations of "cu"

Languages (29)

Allentiac • Aromanian • Asturian • Catalan • Central Mazahua • Chinese • French • Galician • Italian • Lower Sorbian • Mandarin • Middle English • Middle Irish • Millcayac • Neapolitan • Occitan • Old English • Portuguese • Romagnol • Romanian • Romansch • Sicilian • Spanish • Tagalog • Tarantino • Turkish • Vietnamese • Welsh

Page categories

Translingual

Symbol

cu

(international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Old Church Slavonic.

Allentiac

Pronoun

cu

I, first-person singular

References

Discovery of a Fragment of the Printed Copy of the Work on the Language of the Millcayac Indians (1913)
Willem F. H. Adelaar, The Languages of the Andes (2004), citing Luis de Valdiva's work

Aromanian

Etymology

From Latin cum. Compare Romanian cu.

Preposition

cu

with

Asturian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈku/, [ˈku]

Preposition

cu

(Cabrales) Alternative form of con

Interjection

cu

Interjection used repeatly to call those hiding in hide and seek

Pronoun

cu

(Somiedo, Armellada de Órbigo) Alternative form of que

Catalan

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈku]
Rhymes: -u

Noun

cu f (plural cus)

The name of the Latin-script letter Q/q.

Central Mazahua

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kʷ/

Letter

cu (upper case Cu)

A letter of the Mazahua alphabet.

Chinese

Noun

cu

(Hong Kong Cantonese, billiards, snooker, pool) cushion (lip around the table)
撞cu [Hong Kong Cantonese] ― zong⁶ ku¹ [Jyutping] ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

French

Noun

cu m (plural cus)

Alternative spelling of ku

Galician

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈku/ [ˈku]
Rhymes: -u

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese cuu, from Latin cūlum (“ass”). Cognate with Portuguese cu.

Noun

cu m (plural cus)

(vulgar, anatomy) ass, arse, booty, rear, behind, butt, buttocks
Synonyms: nádegas, pandeiro, traseiro
(vulgar, anatomy) anus
- 1409, J. L. Pensado Tomé, editor, Tratado de Albeitaria, Santiago de Compostela: Centro Ramón Piñeiro, page 93:
  faz cristel de huun canudo longo et groso et meteo no cuu do Cauallo, et parao ao sopee et llançalle por aquel cristel aquella decauçon tibya, et tanto que lla llançares tapa lle o Cuu con estopa ou con pano de gisa que non saya ende a decauçon
  prepare a enema with a long and thick cane and insert it in the anus of the horse, immobilize him and pour by the cane the lukewarm enema, and as soon as you have done that plug the anus with oakum or a cloth, so as the enema doesn't come out
bottom of a vessel or bottle

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Noun

cu m

(name of the letter q): Misspelling of que.

References

Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “cuu”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “cuu”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “cu”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “cu”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “cu”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Italian

Etymology

From Latin kū (the name of the letter Q).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈku/
Rhymes: -u
Hyphenation: cù

Noun

cu m or f (invariable)

The name of the Latin-script letter Q/q.; cue

Lower Sorbian

Alternative forms

com

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [t͡su]

Verb

cu

first-person singular present of kśěś

Mandarin

Romanization

cu

Nonstandard spelling of cū.
Nonstandard spelling of cú.
Nonstandard spelling of cǔ.
Nonstandard spelling of cù.

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.

Middle English

Noun

cu (plural ky)

Alternative spelling of cou

Middle Irish

Noun

cu m

Alternative spelling of cú

Millcayac

Pronoun

cu

I, first-person singular

References

Discovery of a Fragment of the Printed Copy of the Work on the Language of the Millcayac Indians (1913)

Neapolitan

Etymology

From Latin cum (“with”).

Preposition

cu

with

Occitan

Noun

cu f (plural cus)

cue (the letter q, Q)

Old English

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kō (“cow”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kuː/

Noun

cū f (nominative plural cȳ)

cow
- c. 992, Ælfric, "Of Saint James the Apostle"
  Ān cū wearþ ġebrōht tō þām temple þæt man hīe ġeoffrode.
  A cow was brought to the temple to be sacrificed.

Declension

Declension of cū

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	cū	cȳ
accusative	cū	cȳ
genitive	cūe, cūs, cȳ	cūa, cūna
dative	cȳ	cūm, cūum

Derived terms

Descendants

Middle English: cou, cow, cowe, cu, kow, kowe, ku
- English: cow (see there for further descendants)
- Geordie English: coo
- Scots: coo, coe, cou
- Yola: keow

Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese cuu (“ass”), from Latin cūlum. Compare Galician cu, Spanish and Italian culo, French cul, and Romanian cur.

Pronunciation

(Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈku/

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈku/

Audio (Portugal): (file)
Rhymes: -u

Noun

cu m (plural cus) (vulgar)

buttocks; arse, ass, butt, bum
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nádegas
anus; butthole
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ânus
(Brazil) anything or anyone annoying, boring or somewhat bad
Synonym: cuzão

Usage notes

In Brazil, the term refers strictly to the anus, not being used for to the buttocks.

Derived terms

Related terms

culote

Romagnol

Noun

cu m or f (invariable)

The name of the Latin-script letter Q/q.

Romanian

Etymology

Inherited from Latin cum, from Proto-Italic *kom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“next to, at, with, along”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ku/
Rhymes: -u
Audio: (file)

Preposition

cu (+accusative)

with
Vreau să vin cu tine.
I want to come with you.
with (in the instrumental sense)
Vin cu bicicleta.
I come by bicycle.

Lovesc o oglindă cu ciocanul.
I hit a mirror with the hammer.

Usage notes

Cu is the only preposition (other than very specific uses of pe and la) that can be followed by an articulated noun without any modifier (an adjective or a possessive or demonstrative pronoun, primarily).

References

cu in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Romansch

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin quod.

Conjunction

cu

(Puter) than

Sicilian

Etymology 1

From Latin cum. Compare Italian con, Neapolitan cu, Romanian cu.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ku/ (Stressed)
IPA^(key): /ku/ (Unstressed)
Rhymes: -cu
Hyphenation: cu

Preposition

cu

with

Usage notes

When followed by a definite article, cu combines with the article to produce the following combined forms:

cu + article	Combined form
cu + u	cû
cu + lu	cu lu
cu + a	câ
cu + la	cu la
cu + i	chî
cu + li	cu li
cu + l'	cu l'

Related terms

Etymology 2

From an inflection of Latin quis. Akin to chi and ca.

Pronoun

cu

who
that

Spanish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈku/ [ˈku]
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -u
Syllabification: cu

Noun

cu f (plural cus or cúes)

Name of the letter q

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish cu, the Spanish name of the letter Q/q.

Pronunciation

(Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈku/ [ˈku]
Rhymes: -u
Syllabification: cu
Homophones: Coo, Cu, Khoo

Noun

cu (Baybayin spelling ᜃᜓ) (historical)

the name of the Latin-script letter Q/q, in the Abecedario
Synonym: (in the Filipino alphabet) kyu

Tarantino

Etymology

From Latin cum.

Preposition

cu

with

Turkish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /dʒʊ/

Interjection

cu

(chiefly Internet, humorous) An interjection designed to rhyme with "ananın amcuğu" (especially used to trick a person into asking the meaning).
"Cu'da bomba patlamış, duydun mu?" "Cu neresi?" "ANANIN AMCUĞUUUUU"

Vietnamese

Vietnamese Wikipedia has an article on:

cu

Wikipedia ^vi

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ku˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [kʊw˧˧]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [kʊw˧˧]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Vietic *t-kuː (“dove”); ultimately onomatopoeic. Cognate with Kha Phong təkuː¹. Compare Thai เขา (kǎo), Chinese 鳩 (OC *[k](r)u) (B-S), Burmese ခို (hkui), English coo.

This is the form without both diphthongization and lenition. Also in common use are câu, bồ câu, both with diphthongization. The form gâu (in chim gâu) with both diphthongization and lenition is also attested.

Noun

(classifier con) cu • (鴝)

dove; pigeon (especially the wild ones)
Synonym: cu cu

Interjection

cu • (鴝)

(onomatopoeia) coo

Etymology 2

From etymology 1. For semantic relationship, compare English cock, Chinese 屌 (diǎo), 鳥／鸟 (“bird”), Cantonese 㞗, 鳩／鸠 (“pigeon”), Thai นกเขา (nók-kǎo, “pigeon”). Also see cò, chim.

Noun

(classifier con) cu

(anatomy, informal) penis; cock; prick

Noun

cu • (俱)

(colloquial) boy
Thằng cu đó quậy thật.
He's one mischievous boy.

Cu Tí ơi!
Hey, Ti-boy!

Ê cu! Lại đây biểu!
Hey boy! Come here!

Welsh

Etymology

From Middle Welsh ku, from Proto-Brythonic *kʉβ̃ (compare Breton kuñv), from Proto-Celtic *koimos (“dear, nice”) (compare Old Irish cóem), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“of the home, belonging to the family”) (compare English home, Lithuanian káimas (“village, countryside”), Sanskrit क्षेम (kṣéma, “basis, foundation”)).

Pronunciation

(North Wales) IPA^(key): /kɨː/
(South Wales) IPA^(key): /kiː/
Homophone: ci (South Wales only)

Adjective

cu (feminine singular cu, plural cu, equative cued, comparative cuach, superlative cuaf)

dear, beloved
Synonyms: annwyl, hoff

Derived terms

mamgu
tadcu

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
cu	gu	nghu	chu
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.