lu

See also: Appendix:Variations of "lu"
Languages (42)
Translingual • English
Achang • Äiwoo • Asturian • Bakung • Basque • Betawi • Chinese • Cornish • Corsican • Danish • French • Friulian • Hausa • Iberian • Ido • Indonesian • Iranun • Japanese • Jingpho • Kapampangan • Linngithigh • Lutuv • Malay • Mandarin • Mizo • Muong • Neapolitan • Norwegian Nynorsk • Nuxalk • Old French • Sassarese • Sicilian • Sumerian • Tocharian A • Veps • Vietnamese • Welsh • Zazaki • Zhuang • Zou
Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Luba or Luba-Katanga Kiluba.

Symbol

lu

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

See also

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

lu (uncountable)

  1. Archaic form of loo (“card game”).

Verb

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”).

Etymology 2

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

Noun

lu (usually uncountable, plural lus)

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

References

Anagrams

Achang

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

lu

  1. tiger, leopard

Äiwoo

Noun

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.

References

  • 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

Asturian

Alternative forms

Etymology

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

Pronoun

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

Bakung

Etymology

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

Noun

lu

  1. pestle for pounding rice

References

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

Basque

Etymology

Unknown. Potentially compare Iberian lu (“deep”)

Pronunciation

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

Noun

lu inan

  1. pussy, vagina

Declension

Declension of lu (inan V-stem)
indefinite singular plural proximal plural
absolutive lu lua luak luok
ergative luk luak luek luok
dative luri luari luei luoi
genitive luren luaren luen luon
comitative lurekin luarekin luekin luokin
causative lurengatik luarengatik luengatik luongatik
benefactive lurentzat luarentzat luentzat luontzat
instrumental luz luaz luez luotaz
inessive lutan luan luetan luotan
locative lutako luko luetako luotako
allative lutara lura luetara luotara
terminative lutaraino luraino luetaraino luotaraino
directive lutarantz lurantz luetarantz luotarantz
destinative lutarako lurako luetarako luotarako
ablative lutatik lutik luetatik luotatik
partitive lurik — — —
prolative lutzat — — —

Betawi

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Hokkien 汝 (lú, “you”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lu/
    • Audio:(file)
  • IPA(key): /luh/
  • IPA(key): /əˈlu/ (extended form)
    • Audio:(file)
  • IPA(key): /əˈluh/ (extended form)
  • Hyphenation: lu

Pronoun

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)

Usage notes

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.

Synonyms

See also

Betawi personal pronouns
singular plural
1st person gua, saya,
anè, kita1 		kita1
2nd person lu, énté, situ
3rd person dia
possessive punya
reflexive diri
emphatic kendiri', dèwèk

1 Primarily plural, but also used singularly.

  • Except for 1st person singular pronouns, plurality can
    be specified by reduplication, appending pada, or both.

See each entry for more information.

References

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

Chinese

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

Cornish

Etymology

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

Noun

lu m (plural luyow)

  1. army, troop, fleet

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

  1. archaic form of u

Pronoun

lu

  1. archaic form of u

References

  • “lu”, in INFCOR: Banca di dati di a lingua corsa [Database of the Corsican language], 1999-
  • “u”, in INFCOR: Banca di dati di a lingua corsa [Database of the Corsican language], 1999-

Danish

Verb

lu

  1. imperative of lue

French

Pronunciation

Participle

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

  1. past participle of lire

Friulian

Etymology

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

Pronoun

lu (third person masculine direct object)

  1. him

Hausa

Pronunciation

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

Ideophone

lû

  1. swinging motion

Iberian

Etymology

Unknown. Possibly compare Basque alu (“vagina”)

Adjective

lu

  1. deep
    tekeŕ lu keś ir
    A deep votive action

References

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

Ido

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Pronoun

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.

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

See also

Personal pronouns in Ido
singular plural
nominative possessive nominative possessive
singular plural singular plural
first person  me  mea  mei  ni  nia  nii
second person formal  vu  vua  vui  vi  via  vii
familiar  tu  tua  tui
third person masculine  ilu, il  ilua  ilui  ili  ilia  ilii
feminine  elu, el  elua  elui  eli  elia  elii
neuter  olu, ol  olua  olui  oli  olia  olii
common  lu  lua  lui  li  lia  lii
reflexive  su  sua  sui  su  sua  sui
indefinite  onu, on  onua  onui  onu, on  onua  onui
  • The possessive plurals are seldom used.
  • The shortened forms are preferred.
  • The pangendered forms are preferred to the gendered or neuter forms in most scenarios.

Indonesian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Pronoun

lu

  1. (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)

Iranun

Etymology

    Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *luheq.

    Noun

    lu

    1. tear

    Japanese

    Romanization

    lu

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

    Jingpho

    Etymology

    Borrowed from Burmese လှူ (hlu).

    Verb

    lu

    1. to offer
    2. to donate

    References

    • 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

    Kapampangan

    Pronunciation

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

    Pronoun

    lu

    1. they (third person plural)
      Synonym: (preposed) ilu

    Derived terms

    See also

    Kapampangan personal pronouns
    absolute ergative oblique
    disjunctive enclitic
    first
    person     		singular aku/i aku/yaku ku kanaku
    plural inclusive ikatamu katamu/tamu tamu/ta kekatamu
    plural exclusive ikami, ike kami/ke mi kekami/keke
    second
    person     		singular ika ka mu keka
    plural ikayu/iko kayu/ko yu kekayu/keko
    third
    person     		singular iya/ya ya na keya/kaya
    plural ila la da/ra karela

    Linngithigh

    Pronoun

    lu

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

    See also

    Linngithigh personal pronouns
    Person Number (and clusivity) Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative
    First Singular ayong ninh thom thon
    Dual inclusive linggay linh linam lingg
    Non-singular exclusive nan nanh nanam nangg
    Plural inclusive puy punh punam pungg
    Second Singular tru nanh kom kon
    Dual poy ponh ponam pongg
    Plural irae iraenh iraenam iraengg
    Third Singular lu ngonh ngom ngon
    Dual lawuy lawunh/lanh lawunam lawungg
    Plural 'ar 'anh 'anam 'angg

    Lutuv

    Etymology

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

    Noun

    lu

    1. farm, field[2]
      Lu ca ina thlu pa.
      He tills the field for me.

    References

    1. ^ VanBik, Kenneth (2009), Proto-Kuki-Chin: A Reconstructed Ancestor of the Kuki-Chin Languages (STEDT Monograph Series), volume 8, →ISBN
    2. ^ Amanda Bohnert (2025), “The Lutuv (Lautu) Verbal Agreement System”, in Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages and Cultures‎[1], volume 4, number 1, archived from the original on 19 April 2026

    Malay

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈlu/ [ˈlu]
    • Rhymes: -u

    Etymology 1

    Borrowed from Hokkien 汝 (lú).

    Pronoun

    lu (Jawi spelling لو)

    1. (Singapore, colloquial) you
      Synonyms: kamu, engkau, kau, awak, anda, hang
    Derived terms
    • lu orang
    See also
    Malay personal pronouns
    Singular Plural
    1st person

    saya1
    aku3

    kita4
    kami2 & 5
    kita orang3 & 5

    2nd person

    awak1
    anda2
    awda8
    (eng)kau3
    kamu3

    (2nd person) + semua6
    kalian2
    (eng)kau orang3

    3rd person

    dia
    ia
    beliau7
    -nya2

    mereka2
    dia orang3

    1 Polite.
    2 Formal.
    3 Informal.
    4 Includes the listener (inclusive).
    5 Excludes the listener (exclusive).
    6 Formality depends on the second person pronoun used.
    7 Honorific.
    8 Formal (Brunei).

    Notes:
    • This table mostly only shows personal pronouns that are commonly used in the standard language and within the Klang Valley area.
    • The second person pronouns are often replaced by kinship terms, titles, or the like.
    • The enclitic -nya is only used obliquely (as an object or possessor).
    • The second person pronoun kamu is usually only used when speaking with younger speakers.
    See each entry for more information.

    Etymology 2

    Clipping of dulu.

    Adverb

    lu (Jawi spelling لو)

    1. (colloquial) alternative form of dulu
      Aku gerak lu.
      I'm going first.

    Further reading

    • "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)

    Mandarin

    Romanization

    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

    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.

    Mizo

    Etymology

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

    Noun

    lu

    1. head

    Further reading

    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 (tuǐ).

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /lu¹/

    Noun

    lu

    1. (Mường Bi) thigh
      Synonym: tùi

    Neapolitan

    Etymology

    Inherited from Latin illum.

    Pronunciation

    Pronoun

    lu

    1. alternative form of 'u

    Norwegian Nynorsk

    Noun

    lu m

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

    References

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

    Nuxalk

    Etymology

    Inherited from Proto-Salish *lǝw/ʕʷ (“to come off (as skin, bark)”).

    Pronunciation

    Root

    lu

    1. to (cause to) be loose, come off, peel

    Derived terms

    Category Nuxalk terms belonging to the root lu not found

    References

    • Nater, Hank (2022), The Nuxalk Language: (lexicon, narratives, grammar), →DOI, page 89

    Old French

    Alternative forms

    Etymology

    Reduced form of Latin lupus.

    Noun

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

    1. 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/, (after a vowel) /ru/

    Article

    lu m sg (plural li, feminine la)

    1. the (masculine singular)

    Usage notes

    • Becomes l' before a vowel.

    Inflection

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

    Pronoun

    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”)

    References

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

    Sicilian

    Pronunciation

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

    Etymology 1

    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”).

    Alternative forms

    • u (illiquid variant)

    Article

    lu m sg (f la, plural li)

    1. (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
    singular plural
    masculine feminine
    indefinite article nu, un, 'n na —
    definite
    article     		liquid lu la li
    illiquid u, û a, â i, î

    Etymology 2

    See etymology 1.

    Alternative forms

    • -lu (enclitic)
    • u (illiquid form)

    Pronoun

    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.
    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'.
    Inflection
    Sicilian personal pronouns
    number person nominative prepositional accusative dative reflexive
    singular
    1st eu (a) mìa mi
    2nd tu tia ti
    3rd m iḍḍu lu / u ci si
    f iḍḍa la / a
    plural
    1st nuàutri, nui ni
    2nd vuàutri, vui vi
    3rd iḍḍi li / i ci si

    Sumerian

    Romanization

    lu

    1. romanization of 𒇻 (lu)

    Tocharian A

    Etymology

    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”).

    Noun

    lu

    1. animal

    Veps

    Etymology

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

    Noun

    lu

    1. 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
    • külʹglu
    • 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]‎[6], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

    Vietnamese

    Etymology

    Compare Khmer លូ (luu, “large jar”).

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    lu (classifier cái)

    1. big vase used to contain water

    Welsh

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    lu

    1. soft mutation of llu

    Mutation

    Mutated forms of llu
    radical soft nasal aspirate
    llu lu unchanged unchanged

    Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
    All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

    Zazaki

    Alternative forms

    Noun

    lu

    1. fox (Vulpes vulpes)

    Zhuang

    Etymology

    Compare Chinese 了.

    Pronunciation

    Particle

    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.

    See also

    Zou

    Etymology

    From Proto-Kuki-Chin *luu.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [lū]
    • Hyphenation: lu

    Noun

    lu

    1. head

    References

    • 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
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