mu

Ancient Greek alphabet

← lambda		→ nu
Μ μ Ancient Greek: μῦ
Wikipedia article on mu

From Ancient Greek μῦ (mû), derived from Phoenician 𐤌𐤌 (mm /⁠mem⁠/, “water”). Doublet of mem.

• IPA^(key): /mjuː/, /muː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophones: mew (first pronunciation only), moo (second pronunciation only)

mu (countable and uncountable, plural mus)

1. The 12th letter of the Modern Greek alphabet.

• mu-meson, muon
• mu-metal

• (Greek-script letter names) alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu, xi, omicron, pi, rho, sigma, tau, upsilon, phi, chi, psi, omega

From Japanese 無 (mu, “nothing, neither yes nor no”).

(Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /muː/
  • Homophone: moo
• (US) IPA^(key): /mjuː/, /muː/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Homophone: mew (first pronunciation only)
  • Homophone: moo (second pronunciation only)

mu

1. (Zen Buddhism) Neither yes nor no.
   • 1974, Robert M[aynard] Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow & Company, →ISBN:

     Mu means "no thing." Like "Quality" it points outside the process of dualistic discrimination. Mu simply says, "No class; not one, not zero, not yes, not no." […] It's a great mistake, a kind of dishonesty, to sweep nature's mu answers under the carpet.

   • 1979, Douglas Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid:

     Achilles: Oh, but MU is Jōshū’s answer. By saying MU, Jōshū let the other monk know that only by not asking such questions can one know the answer to them.
     Tortoise: Jōshū “unasked” the question. […]
     Achilles: […] And the answer of “MU” here rejects the premises of the question, which are that one or the other must be chosen.

   • 1996, Dan Simmons, “Looking for Kelly Dahl”, in The Year's Best Science Fiction, page 424:

     "Mu," said Kelly Dahl.
     On one level mu means only yes, but on a deeper level of Zen it was often used by the master when the acolyte asked a stupid, unanswerable or wrongheaded question such as "Does a dog have the Buddha-nature?" The Master would answer only, "Mu," meaning—I say "yes" but mean "no," but the actual answer is: Unask the question.

   • 2002, Norman Waddell, Masao Abe, The Heart of Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō, page 72:

     The Fifth Patriarch's utterance You say mu [Buddha-nature] because Buddha-nature is emptiness articulates clearly and distinctly the truth that emptiness is not "no". In uttering Buddha-nature-emptiness one does not say "half a pound." One does not say "eight ounces." One says "mu."

   • 2010, Joan Price, Sacred Scriptures of the World Religions, page 70:

     A monk once asked Master Joshu, 'Has a dog the Buddha Nature or not?' Joshu said, 'Mu!'

mu (uncountable)

1. (Zen Buddhism) Nothingness; nonexistence; the illusory nature of reality.
   • 2012, Omori, Introduction To Zen Training, →ISBN, page 115:

     That being the case, we should naturally choose to contemplate mu from morning to night, forgetting everything.

   • 2012, Dr Robert Wilkinson, Nishida and Western Philosophy, →ISBN:

     Consequently, though mu is mindlike, the likeness to individual consciousness cannot be pushed very far.

   • 2013, Sean Murphy, Natalie Goldberg, One Bird, One Stone: 108 Contemporary Zen Stories, →ISBN, page xvii:

     The monk posed to Chaoi-chou a question: Does a dog have a buddha nature or not?" Chao-chou, without a moment's hesitation, answered, “Mu." (Translated as "No.")

   • 2013, Maura O'Halloran, Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind, →ISBN:

     If mu is mind, consciousness, it is nothing.

Used to answer a question that if answered with "yes" or "no" would imply something false.

• (nothingness): See also Thesaurus:inexistence

• (non-affirmative, non-negative answer): n/a

From Mandarin 畝／亩 (mǔ).

mu (plural mu)

1. A unit of surface area, currently equivalent to two-thirtieths of a hectare.
   • [1959 September, Tung Ta-lin [董大林], “The Inevitability of Quick Transition from Lower to Higher Stage of Agricultural Co-operation”, in Agricultural Co-operation in China [中国农业合作化的道路] (China Knowledge Series)‎^[2], 2nd edition, Peking: Foreign Languages Press, →OCLC, page 72:

     The Lucky Star Co-operative in Chuwo County on the plains of southern Shansi had, before the anti-Japanese war, 26 wells, 4 water-wheels and 166.1 mou of irrigated fields, 4.82 per cent of its total arable land.]

   • [1965 July 9 [1965 June 7], “Chienchiang County Reports Increase in Crops”, in Daily Report: Foreign Radio Broadcasts‎^[3], number 131, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Wuhan Domestic Service, →OCLC, page DDD 2‎^[4]:

     Good news on the summer harvest prevailed in the countryside of Chienchiang County, Hupeh. The county reported remarkable increased in its 600,000 mou of summer food crops this year, surpassing the yield in 1962 which was considered as the best year.]

   • 2004, Peter Ho, “The Wasteland Auction Policy in Northwest China: Solving Environmental Degradation and Rural Poverty?”, in Rural Development in Transitional China: The New Agriculture‎^[5], →ISBN, →ISSN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 125‎^[6]:

     Pengyang county was administered by Guyuan before 1988. In contrast to Guyuan, Pengyang is relatively wealthy. Farmers earn a considerable income through tobacco cultivation, which can yield an annual gross income of Rmb 1,500-2,000 per mu. In 1996, the cultivated area of tobacco in Pengyang was 11,000 mu.⁷

   • 2007, Chang Liu, Peasants and Revolution in Rural China: Rural Political Change in the North China Plain and the Yangzi Delta, 1850-1949, page 87:

     Of 114 village farming families, only ten had more than 30 mu of land and only five had more than 60 mu.

• 'um, -um, UM, um, um-

• IPA^(key): /mu/

mu class I gender m

1. crocodile

• Lock, Arnold Hugo. 2011. Abau Grammar. Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages 57. Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea: SIL-PNG Academic Publications. Available online.
  • p.63 (masculine gender noted)
  • p.67, Table 21 (listed under Class 1, Masculine).

mu

1. dialectal form of mua

mu

1. (Mpakwithi) buttocks

• Terry Crowley, The Mpakwithi dialect of Anguthimri (1981), page 187

mu

1. moo (sound made by a cow or bull)

• IPA^(key): [ˈmu]

• Audio:

  (file)

mu

1. singular dative of on

   Řekni mu, že jím. ― Tell him, I am eating.

2. singular dative of ono

• jemu

From Ancient Greek μῦ (mû). Doublet of mem and majem.

• IPA^(key): /my/

• Audio:

  (file)

mu m (plural mu's, diminutive muutje n)

1. mu (letter of the Greek alphabet)

• mu on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

mu

1. genitive singular of ma

• Used unstressed in a sentence. When the pronoun is stressed, minu (genitive of mina) is used.

mu

1. very

• muchu

• IPA^(key): /my/

• Audio:

  (file)

mu m (plural mu)

1. mu (Greek letter)

mu (feminine mue, masculine plural mus, feminine plural mues)

1. post-1990 spelling of mû

• “mu”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

mu

1. (a) crocodile

• Hanga Hundi Organised Phonology Data (2011)

Cognates include Mangas mun, Polci mii, Miship mun.

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

mū

1. we (1st person plural pronoun)

mu (Mena), mụ (Ikobi)

1. water

• Karl J. Franklin, Comparative Wordlist 1 of the Gulf District and adjacent areas (1975), page 67

mu

1. (proscribed) alternative spelling of -mu

• IPA^(key): /ˈmu/
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: mù

mu m or f (invariable)

1. the name of the letter M

mu

1. The hiragana syllable む (mu) or the katakana syllable ム (mu) in Hepburn romanization.

Borrowed from Burmese မူး (mu:).

mu

1. two anna bit

• Kurabe, Keita (31 December 2016) “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, in Kyoto University Linguistic Research‎^[7], volume 35, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 91–128

mu

1. water

• Gisaburō Norikura Kiyose, A Study of the Jurchen Language and Script: Reconstruction and Decipherment (1977)

• mo
• me

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *-mu (2sg. possessor and agent of passive verb). Compare Malay -mu, Tagalog mo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmu/ [ˈmu]
• Hyphenation: mu

mu

1. second person singular possessive adjective; your

mu

1. only; just; one

   Synonyms: man, metung, basta, kabud, tangi

mu

1. I

mu

1. water

mu

1. old

• Randy Jones, Provisional Kom - English lexicon (2001, Yaoundé, Cameroon)

mu

1. alternative spelling of -mu

mu

1. nonstandard spelling of mū
2. nonstandard spelling of mú
3. nonstandard spelling of mǔ
4. nonstandard spelling of mù

• 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.

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈmuː/

mū

1. accusative/genitive of mun

• IPA^(key): [mu]

mu (triggers lenition)

1. alternative form of mo (“my”)

• IPA^(key): /ˈmu/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: mu

• jemu, niemu

mu m

1. dative singular mute of on

mu n

1. dative singular mute of ono

• Appendix:Polish pronouns

Onomatopoeic.

mu

1. moo (sound made by cows and bulls)

• mu in Polish dictionaries at PWN

• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: mu

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese muu, from Latin mūlum (“mule”). Doublet of mulo.

mu m (plural mus)

1. mule

   Synonym: mulo

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek μῦ (mû).

mu m (plural mus)

1. mu (Greek letter)
2. synonym of muão, múon (“muon”)

Onomatopoeic.

• muu, muuu, etc.

mu

1. moo (the call of a cow)

Onomatopoeic.

mu

1. moo (sound made by cows)

From Old Irish imb. Cognates include Irish um and Manx mysh.

• IPA^(key): /ma/^[1][2][3]

mu (+ dative, triggers lenition, combined with the singular definite article mun)

1. about, around

   Bha craobhan mu ghàrradh an taighe. ― There were trees around the house's yard.

2. about, concerning

   Bha sinn a' bruidhinn mu làithean san sgoil againn. ― We were talking about our days at school.

3. about, approximately

   Bidh a' chuairt a' toirt mu thrì uairean. ― The trip will take about three hours.

4. (dated) on (of clothes)

   Dè chuireas mi umam? ― What shall I wear?

mu (Cyrillic spelling му)

1. to him (clitic dative singular of ȏn (“he”))
2. to it (clitic dative singular of òno (“it”))
3. (emphatic, possessive, dative) his, of his (clitic dative singular of ȏn (“he”))

   Gdje mu je auto?

   Where is his car?

4. (emphatic, possessive, dative) its, of its (clitic dative singular of òno (“it”))

• jemu, nemu (after prepositions)

• IPA^(key): [mu]

mu

1. dative of on and ono

• IPA^(key): /ˈmu/ [ˈmu]
• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: mu

Onomatopoeic.

mu

1. moo (sound of a cow)

mu f (plural múes)

1. misspelling of mi (mu, the Greek letter Μ, μ)

mu

1. (slang) clipping of muy

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

mu

1. romanization of 𒈬 (mu)

• IPA^(key): /mʉː/
• Rhymes: -ʉː

mu

1. moo (sound made by a cow)

   Kon säger mu

   The cow says moo

mu n

1. a moo

• råma

• mu in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• mu in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• mu in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• -um

From Proto-Tai *ʰmuːᴬ (“pig”). Cognate with Thai หมู (mǔu), Northern Thai ᩉ᩠ᨾᩪ, Lao ໝູ (mū), Lü ᦖᦴ (ṁuu), Tai Dam ꪢꪴ, Shan မူ (mǔu), Ahom 𑜉𑜥 (mū), Zhuang mou, Bouyei mul.

• (Thạch An – Tràng Định) IPA^(key): [mu˧˧]
• (Trùng Khánh) IPA^(key): [mu˦˥]

mu (𤝕, 牳)

1. pig

• Hoàng Văn Ma, Lục Văn Pảo, Hoàng Chí (2006) Từ điển Tày-Nùng-Việt [Tay-Nung-Vietnamese dictionary] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Từ điển Bách khoa Hà Nội

Tooro numbers ^(edit)

		10
		1	2  → [a], [b]	10  →
Cardinal: -mu, (in abstract counting) emu     Ordinal: -a okubanza     Adverbial: kubanza, enyalimu, omurundi gumu

From Proto-Bantu *-mòì. Cognate with Kikuyu -mwe and Zulu -nye.

• IPA^(key): /mu/

-mu

1. one

   omuntu omu ― one person

2. (in the plural) some

   abantu abamu ― some people

3. (in the plural) same

   abantu abamu ― the same people

• obumu (“unity”)
• hamu (“together”)

• Kaji, Shigeki (2007) A Rutooro Vocabulary‎^[8], Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), →ISBN, page 145
• Rubongoya, L. T. (2013) Katondogorozi y'Orunyoro-Rutooro n'Orungereza [Runyoro–Rutooro-English and English-Runyoro–Rutooro dictionary]‎^[9], Kampala: Modrug Publishers, →ISBN, pages 238, 542, 571, 583

mu

1. Used to form interrogatives.

   Ona bu soruyu sordun mu?

   Did you ask him/her this question?

   Mutlu musun?

   Are you happy?

   Pikniğe gitmiyor muyuz?

   Aren't we going for a picnic?

• Personal suffixes are added to the interrogative particles, as well as the past tense suffixes.
• This form is used when the last vowel of the previous word is "o" or "u". Other forms used with different vowels are: mı?, mi? and mü?

• IPA^(key): /mu/

mu

1. delicious

mu

1. (negation) not

   Mu jna'. ― I do not know him/her/it.

• muk'

(particles)

• mu'yuk

• “mu(1)”, “mu(2)” in Laughlin, Robert M. (1975) The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantán. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
• Laughlin, Robert M. [et al.] (1988) The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of Santo Domingo Zinacantán, vol. I. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

It is not clear which between "mons veneris" and "carapace" is the more original, although the sense "back" is certainly a derivative.

Compare Zhuang moz.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [mu˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [mʊw˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [mʊw˧˧]

mu • (模)

1. mons veneris, pubes, the pubic region
2. (of hands and feet) back

   mu bàn tay ― back of the hand

3. the carapaces (dorsal shells) of some animals (e.g. turtles and crustaceans)

   Synonym: mai

Borrowed from Spanish muy (“very”).

mu

1. extremely

Compare Ternate omu (“ripe”).

• IPA^(key): /mu/

mu

1. (stative) to be ripe

• mo

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎^[10], Pacific linguistics

• IPA^(key): /mũ̄/

mu

1. to drink

   Má mu ọtí tó o bá fẹ́ wakọ̀. ― Don't drink alcohol if you want to drive.

2. to suck

   Ọmọ-ọwọ́ ṣì ń mu ọmú. ― The baby is still sucking breast.

3. to lick (juicy fruits such as oranges, or deserts such as ice cream)

   Ọmọdé ń mu ọsàn. ― The child is licking orange.

4. to smoke

   Kò kí ń mu sìgá. ― She doesn't smoke cigarettes.

Yoruba varieties and languages: mu (“to drink, suck, smoke”)
view map; edit data
Language family	Variety group	Variety/language	Subdialect	Location	Words
Proto-Itsekiri-SEY	Southeast Yoruba	Ìkálẹ̀ (Ùkálẹ̀)		Òkìtìpupa	mọ
		Ọ̀wọ̀ (Ọ̀ghọ̀)		Ọ̀wọ̀ (Ọ̀ghọ̀)	mọ
	Ìtsẹkírì			Ìwẹrẹ	mọ
	Olùkùmi			Ugbódù	mọ
Proto-Yoruba	Central Yoruba	Èkìtì	Èkìtì	Àdó Èkìtì	mụ
			Àkúrẹ́	Àkúrẹ́	mụ
			Mọ̀bà	Ọ̀tùn Èkìtì	mụ
	Northwest Yoruba	Àwórì		Èbúté Mẹ́tà	mu
		Ẹ̀gbá		Abẹ́òkúta	mu
		Ẹ̀gbádò		Ìjàká	mọ
		Èkó		Èkó	mu
		Ìbàdàn		Ìbàdàn	mu
		Ìlọrin		Ìlọrin	mu
		Ọ̀yọ́		Ọ̀yọ́	mu
		Standard Yorùbá		Nàìjíríà	mu
				Bɛ̀nɛ̀	mu
	Northeast Yoruba/Okun	Ìyàgbà		Ìsánlú Ìtẹ̀dó	mu
		Owé		Kabba	mu
	Ede languages/Southwest Yoruba	Ana		Sokode	mɔ
		Cábɛ̀ɛ́		Cábɛ̀ɛ́ (Ìdàdú)	mɔ
				Tchaourou	mɔ
		Ǹcà (Ìcà, Ìncà)		Baàtɛ	mɔ
		Ìdàácà	Benin	Igbó Ìdàácà (Dasa Zunmɛ̀)	mu
		Ọ̀họ̀rí/Ɔ̀hɔ̀rí-Ìjè	Ọ̀họ̀rí/Ɔ̀hɔ̀rí/Ìjè	Ìkpòbɛ́	mɔ
				Onigbolo	mɔ
			Kétu/Ànàgó	Kétu	mu
		Ifɛ̀		Akpáré	mɔ
				Atakpamɛ	mɔ
				Boko	mɔ
				Moretan	mɔ
				Tchetti (Tsɛti, Cɛti)	mɔ
		Kura		Aledjo-Koura	mɔ
				Awotébi	mɔ
				Partago	mɔ
		Mɔ̄kɔ́lé		Kandi	mɔ
		Northern Nago		Kambole	mɔ
				Manigri	mɔ
Note: This amalgamation of terms comes from a number of different academic papers focused on the unique varieties and languages spoken in the Yoruboid dialectal continuum which extends from eastern Togo to southern Nigeria. The terms for spoken varieties, now deemed dialects of Yorùbá in Nigeria (i.e. Southeast Yorùbá, Northwest Yorùbá, Central Yorùbá, and Northeast Yorùbá), have converged with those of Standard Yorùbá leading to the creation of what can be labeled Common Yorùbá (Funṣọ Akere, 1977). It can be assumed that the Standard Yorùbá term can also be used in most Nigerian varieties alongside native terms, especially amongst younger speakers. This does not apply to the other Nigerian Yoruboid languages of Ìṣẹkírì and Olùkùmi, nor the Èdè Languages of Benin and Togo.

• IPA^(key): /mṹ/

mú

1. to take
2. to catch

   Àwọn ọlọ́pàá ti mú wa o. ― The police have caught us!

   Mo mú bọ́ọ̀lù. ― I caught the ball.

3. to have an effect on (relating to temperature)

   Òtútù ń mú mi. ― I feel cold. (Cold is having an effect on me)

4. (auxiliary verb) to cause something to do something else (must be used with another verb)

   Oògùn yẹn mú mi sùn. ― That drug made me sleep.

   Ó mú mi mumi. ― It made me drink water.

5. to be sharp

   Ọbẹ̀ náà mú. ― That knife is sharp.

• mú wá (“to bring”)
• mú ẹ̀tanú kúrò (“to break down stereotypes”)
• mú dání (“to hold”)

• IPA^(key): /mũ̀/

mù

1. to be hidden

   Ó mù sábẹ́ igbó. ― It's hidden under the bush.

Cognates with Yoruba mọ̀

• IPA^(key): /mũ̀/

mù

1. (Ijebu) to know

   Méè mù . ― I don't know .

mu

1. see

• http://www.languageinindia.com/feb2013/zouphonologyfinal.pdf