English

Proper noun

Wu

1. (historical) Suzhou, a city in southern Jiangsu province in China, whence:
   1. (historical) A county of imperial and Republican China around Suzhou.
   2. (historical) A commandery of imperial China around Suzhou.
2. A historic and cultural region of China around the mouth of the Yangtze River, whence:
   1. The family of Chinese languages spoken in that region, including Shanghainese and Suzhounese, the second-most spoken family after Mandarin.
   2. (historical) The kingdom ruled by the Ji family from Wuxi and then Suzhou during the Spring and Autumn period of China's Zhou dynasty.
   3. A common Chinese surname:
   4. (historical) The kingdom ruled by the Sun family from Ezhou and Nanjing during the Three Kingdoms interregnum following China's Han dynasty.
   5. (historical) The kingdom ruled by Li Zitong from Yangzhou and Hangzhou during the interregnum following China's Sui dynasty.
   6. (historical) The kingdom ruled by the Yang family from Yangzhou during the Ten Kingdoms interregnum following China's Tang dynasty.
   7. (historical) The kingdom ruled by the Qian family from Hangzhou and Shaoxing during the Ten Kingdoms interregnum following China's Tang dynasty.

Synonyms

• Gusu, Helu City, Suzhou (Suzhou)
• Wuxian, Wu-hsien (county)
• Wujun, Wu-chun (commandery)
• Wu Chinese, Jiangnan, Wuyue, Jiangzhe (language family)
• Gou Wu, Gouwu, Gong Wu, Gongwu (Spring & Autumn Period realm)
• Dong Wu, Dongwu, Eastern Wu, Sun Wu (Three Kingdoms realm)
• Huainan, Hongnong, Southern Wu, Yang Wu (Ten Kingdoms realm ruled from Yangzhou)
• Wuyue (Ten Kingdoms realm ruled from Hangzhou)
• Woo (surname)

Translations

See also

• Suzhounese
• ISO 639-3 code wuu (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Wu, wuu

• Wiktionary's coverage of Wu terms

Etymology 2

From the Wade-Giles romanization of the Mandarin Chinese 武 ‎(Wǔ, “war, warrior, warlike”).

Proper noun

Wu

1. A Chinese surname
2. (historical) An epithet of numerous kings and emperors in Chinese history who were honored with variants of the posthumous name Wuwang or Wudi.

Usage notes

Although the Chinese usage of Wu as a posthumous name is adjectival and should properly be translated — as, e.g., "the Martial Emperor of the Han dynasty" — or treated as an epithet in a similar manner to emperors called after their era names — as, e.g., "the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty" — it is much more common to encounter them in English sources treated as proper names — as, e.g., "Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty" — despite the Chinese meaning nothing of the sort.

Synonyms

• Woo (surname)
• martial, war-like, etc. (royal epithet)

Etymology 3

From the Wade-Giles romanization of Mandarin Chinese 伍 ‎(Wǔ, “five”), 巫 ‎(wū, “shaman”), etc.

Proper noun

Wu

1. A Chinese surname.

Synonyms

• Woo

Anagrams

• UW

Tagalog

Etymology

From Mandarin 伍 (Wǔ) and 吳／吴 (Wú).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wuː/

Proper noun

Wu

1. A surname​ of Chinese origin.

English

Noun

wu ‎(plural wus)

1. (historical) A Chinese shaman or shamaness

French

Noun

wu m ‎(uncountable)

1. Wu (Sinitic language)

Lower Sorbian

Alternative forms

• hu (obsolete)

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *u.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [u]

Preposition

wu ‎(with genitive)

1. at; at the home, office, workshop, etc. of (compare German bei, French chez, Latin apud, etc.)

Mandarin

Romanization

wu

1. Nonstandard spelling of wū.
2. Nonstandard spelling of wú.
3. Nonstandard spelling of wǔ.
4. Nonstandard spelling of wù.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vu/

Noun

wu n

1. The name of the Latin-script letter W/w.

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) litera; a, ą, be, ce, cie, de, e, ę, ef, gie, ha, i, jot, ka, el, eł, em, en, eń, o, ó/o z kreską, pe, er, es, eś, te, u, wu, y/igrek, zet, ziet, żet ^{(Category: pl:Latin letter names)}

Tocharian A

Etymology

From Proto-Tocharian, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Compare Tocharian B wi.

Numeral

wu m

1. (cardinal) two

Related terms

• we