cu

Symbol

cu

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

Pronoun

cu

1. 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

Etymology

From Latin cum. Compare Romanian cu.

Preposition

cu

1. with

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈku/ [ˈku]

Preposition

cu

1. (Cabrales) Alternative form of con

Interjection

cu

1. Interjection used repeatly to call those hiding in hide and seek

Pronoun

cu

1. (Somiedo, Armellada de Órbigo) Alternative form of que

Pronunciation

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

Noun

cu f (plural cus)

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʷ/

Letter

cu (upper case Cu)

1. A letter of the Mazahua alphabet.

Alternative forms

• 咕

Etymology

Clipping of English cushion.

Pronunciation

Noun

cu

1. (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)

Noun

cu m (plural cus)

1. Alternative spelling of ku

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈku/ [ˈku]
• Rhymes: -u

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

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: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “cu”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (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

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

cu m or f (invariable)

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

Alternative forms

• com

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [t͡su]

Verb

cu

1. first-person singular present of kśěś

Romanization

cu

1. Nonstandard spelling of cū.
2. Nonstandard spelling of cú.
3. Nonstandard spelling of cǔ.
4. Nonstandard spelling of cù.

Noun

cu (plural ky)

1. Alternative spelling of cou

Noun

cu m

1. Alternative spelling of cú

Pronoun

cu

1. I, first-person singular

References

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

Etymology

From Latin cum (“with”).

Preposition

cu

1. with

Noun

cu f (plural cus)

1. cue (the letter q, Q)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuː/

Noun

cū f (nominative plural cȳ)

1. 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.

Alternative forms

• cú (misspelling)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio (Portugal):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u

Noun

cu m (plural cus) (vulgar)

1. buttocks; arse, ass, butt, bum

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nádegas

2. anus; butthole

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ânus

3. (Brazil) anything or anyone annoying, boring or somewhat bad

   Synonym: cuzão

   Essa música é um cu ― This song is ass

Noun

cu m or f (invariable)

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

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku/
• Rhymes: -u

• Audio:

  (file)

Preposition

cu (+accusative)

1. with

   Vreau să vin cu tine.

   I want to come with you.

2. with (in the instrumental sense)

   Vin cu bicicleta.

   I come by bicycle.

   Lovesc o oglindă cu ciocanul.

   I hit a mirror with the hammer.

References

• “cu”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

Alternative forms

• che (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan)
• ca (Sutsilvan)
• tgi (Surmiran)
• co (Vallader)

Etymology

From Latin quod.

Conjunction

cu

1. (Puter) than

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈku/ [ˈku]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: cu

Noun

cu f (plural cus or cúes)

1. Name of the letter q

Further reading

• “cu”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

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)

1. the name of the Latin-script letter Q/q, in the Abecedario

   Synonym: (in the Filipino alphabet) kyu

Etymology

From Latin cum.

Preposition

cu

1. with

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʒʊ/

Interjection

cu

1. (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"

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.

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.

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)

1. dear, beloved

   Synonyms: annwyl, hoff

Mutation

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “cu”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies