GNU

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒiːˌɛnˈjuː/
• Rhymes: -uː

GNU (plural GNUs)

1. (politics) Abbreviation of government of national unity.
   • 2024 May 30, Sarah Dean and David McKenzie, “First results in South Africa’s election suggest it is heading for biggest political shift since apartheid”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     This scenario would hark back to the post-apartheid era when South Africa operated under a GNU to oversee the new constitution, led by Mandela as president and FW de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki as deputy presidents, between April 1994 and February 1997.

Coined by Richard Stallman in 1983 as a recursive acronym for “GNU's Not Unix”, following convention of naming programs similar to or inspired by existing programs as “(New Name) Is Not (Old Name)”; compare Xinu.

Specifically influenced by lack of English words of form ?nu (“?NU is Not Unix”), that gnu is the alphabetically first (and in fact only) English word of the form ?nu (“?’s Not Unix”), that gnu was perceived as a humorous word, and the existence of the song “The Gnu”.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ɡəˈn(j)uː/^[2], (uncommon) /ˈd͡ʒiːˌɛnˈjuː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophone: gnu (one pronunciation)

GNU

1. The Free Software Foundation's project to develop a free UNIX-like operating system, including the legal framework, such as the source code and documentation licenses.

• GNU FDL
• GNU GPL
• GNU/Linux

• GNU on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Ung, gun, NGU, Gun, UNG, nug, Ngu, NGu

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡnuː]
• Rhymes: -nuː
• Homophone: gnú

GNU

1. (computing) GNU