kuru

From Fore kúru (literally “trembling, shivering”).^[1][2] Perhaps eventually from Proto-Gorokan *kút(V) (“dangling, shaking”) if cognate with the reduplicated element of Yagaria gúli gúli hu- (“be loose, rattle”).

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈkʉː.ɹʉː/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊ.ɹuː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (UK) -ʊɹu

kuru (uncountable)

1. A chronic, progressive, fatal central nervous system disease found mainly among the Fore and neighboring peoples of New Guinea, caused by a prion that probably resembles the scrapie agent of sheep, transmissible to nonhuman primates, and believed to be transmitted by ritual cannibalism.

   Synonyms: laughing death, laughing sickness

   • 1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial, published 2004, page 273:

     By the late 1950s, kuru was the leading cause of death among Fore women, and it had killed so many that men outnumbered women by three to one.

• Uruk, ruku'

• kuh
• kur (Hokkaido dialect)

• IPA^(key): /kuɾu/

kuru (Kana spelling クル, plural utara)

1. (with modifiers) person

This word is similar in usage to Japanese 者(もの) (mono), in the sense that it cannot stand in a sentence as an independent word and is never used without a modifier.

• pe (“thing”)

kuru

1. sleep

• Handschuh, Corinna (2014) A typology of marked-S languages

kuru

1. donkey

• 欧阳觉亚 (1985) “kuru”, in 珞巴族語言简志:崩尼-博嘎尔语‎^[1], Beijing: 民族出版社, →OCLC, page 95

• IPA^(key): [ˈkuru]

kuru

1. dative/locative singular of kur

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuru/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uru
• Hyphenation: ku‧ru

kuru

1. imperative of kuri

From Proto-Central-Pacific *kuru, from Proto-Oceanic *kuruq, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *guruq.

kuru (plural kurukuru)

1. thunder (sound caused by a lightning)

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuru/, [ˈkuru]
• Rhymes: -uru
• Syllabification^(key): ku‧ru
• Hyphenation^(key): ku‧ru

From Proto-Finnic *kuru (compare Estonian kuru), from Proto-Finno-Ugric *kure (compare Komi-Zyrian кыр (kyr), Eastern Mari курык (kuryk), Eastern Khanty кор (kor)).

kuru

1. (geography) ravine, flume, gulch, gorge (narrow V-shaped valley, often with water running through)

   Hypernym: rotko

2. canyon

   Synonyms: kanjoni, rotko

• “kuru”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 1 July 2023

From English kuru, from Fore kúru (“trembling, shivering; kuru”).

kuru

1. (pathology) kuru

• kare
• kuri
• kuurna

• urku

From Portuguese couro.

kuru

1. skin
2. leather

kuru

1. Rōmaji transcription of くる

• Carakan: ꦏꦸꦫꦸ

kuru (ngoko kuru, krama kera)

1. skinny

Cognate with Komo kura (“donkey”).

kuru

1. donkey

• Goldberg, Justin, Asadik, Habte, Bekama, Jiregna, Mengistu, Mulat (2016) Gwama – English Dictionary‎^[3], SIL International

kuru

1. inflection of kurš:
   1. accusative/instrumental singular masculine/feminine
   2. genitive plural masculine/feminine

kuru

1. first-person singular present indicative of kurt

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuru/

kuru

1. accusative singular of kura
2. instrumental singular of kura

• IPA^(key): /ku.ru/, [kʉ.ɾʉ]

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kuluʀ. Cognates include Hawaiian ʻulu, Fijian kulu, Malay kulur.

kuru

1. breadfruit

   Kīhai te kuru, te niu me te panana i tipu ki Aotearoa nei – he tipu ēnei i mauria haere e ngā tīpuna Māori i ō rātou torotoronga i Te Moananui-a-Kiwa.

   Breadfruit, coconut palms and bananas did not grow in New Zealand – these were plants Māori ancestors carried throughout the Pacific in their explorations.

From Proto-Nuclear Polynesian *kulu (“to strike”).

kuru (passive kurua or kurungia or kurutia)

1. to strike with a fist; to pound or thump

kuru

1. mallet; fragment; hammer-head stone

kuru

1. (Ngan'gimerri) water

   Synonym: (Ngan'gikurunggurr) kuri

• Tryon, Darrell T. (1970) An introduction to Maranungku (Northern Australia) (quoted online in ASJP)

kuru

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

• IPA^(key): /ˈku.ru/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uru
• Syllabification: ku‧ru

kuru m inan

1. genitive singular of kur

Borrowed from Fore kúru (literally “trembling, shivering”).

• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: ku‧ru

kuru m (uncountable)

1. (pathology) kuru (central nervous system disease among the Fore people)

• “kuru”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025

kuru

1. worm, caterpillar

kuru

1. woman

• Palmer, Bill (2017) The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area, →ISBN, table 95, Comparative basic vocabulary in Lakes Plain Languages, page 531

From Proto-Bantu *-kʊ́dʊ́.

-kúrú

1. big, large

   Antonym: -diki

2. great

   Antonym: -diki

3. adult

   Antonym: -diki

• ukuru (“greatness”)

• IPA^(key): [ˈkuru]

kuru f

1. accusative singular of kura

From Proto-Bantu *-kʊ́dʊ́.

• IPA^(key): /kûɾu/

-kuru (declinable)

1. old, senior

   Antonyms: -to (“young”), -hyaka (“new”)

• Kaji, Shigeki (2007) A Rutooro Vocabulary‎^[4], Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), →ISBN, pages 374-375

Inherited from Proto-Bantu *-kʊ́dʊ́.

-kuru

1. big

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish قورو, from Proto-Turkic *kūr. Cognate with Azerbaijani quru, Tatar коры (qorı), Karachay-Balkar къуру (quru), Uzbek quruq, Uyghur قۇرۇق (quruq), Khakas хуруғ (xuruğ), Chuvash хӑрӑк (hărăk, “dry (of wood)”).

kuru

1. dry

   Antonyms: yaş, nemli

2. emaciated
3. depleted

• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “قورو”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[5], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1485

kuru

1. definite accusative singular of kur

Possibly related to kūrū̀

• IPA^(key): /kú.ɾú/

kúrú

1. to be short

   Antonym: ga