nu

Ancient Greek alphabet

← mu		→ xi
Ν ν Ancient Greek: νῦ
Wikipedia article on nu

From Ancient Greek νῦ (nû), name for the letter of the Greek alphabet Ν (N) and ν (n).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /njuː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /nu/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː

nu (countable and uncountable, plural nus)

1. The letter of the Greek alphabet Ν (N) and ν (n).
2. A measure of constringence in lenses or prisms.

• (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

Borrowed from Yiddish נו (nu). Doublet of now.

• (US) IPA^(key): /nu/

nu

1. (Jewish) An exclamation of surprise, emphasis, doubt, etc.
2. (Jewish) Well? (Used as a question to demand an answer from someone reluctant to answer.)

Phonetic respelling of new.

nu (comparative more nu, superlative most nu)

1. (slang spelling) new

• 'un, -un-, U.N., UN, Un, un, un-

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /nu/

nu (Kana spelling ヌ)

1. (transitive) to hear
2. (transitive) to sense (a smell)
3. (possibly obsolete, transitive, + otta) to ask, enquire

• inu (“to listen”)

nu

1. to drink

• Ross, M. & Næss, Å. (2007) “An Oceanic origin for Äiwoo, the language of the Reef Islands?”, in Oceanic Linguistics, volume 46, number 2. Cited in: "Äiwoo" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.

From Proto-Oceanic *niuʀ, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *niuʀ.

nu

1. coconut

From Proto-Albanian *nu, from Proto-Indo-European *nu (“now”). Related to ni. Compare Ancient Greek νῦν (nûn), Old High German nu (“now”).^[1]

nu

1. when

• ni

• (Zürich) IPA^(key): /nu/

From Middle High German nūn, from Middle High German niuwan, variant of niuwar, from Old High German niwāri. Cognate with German nur.

• no, nun, nur
• nume

nu

1. only

From Middle High German nu, from Old High German nu. Cognate with German nun.

• nuu

nu

1. now

   Synonym: jetz

Historical or dialectal variants.

nu

1. alternative form of no

• IPA^(key): /nu/

nu

1. house

From Latin nōn. Compare Romanian nu.

nu

1. no
2. not

nu

1. no

• ie / e

nu

1. tree

• Scorza, David. Au language word, phrase, clause. Ms. 82pp. (1976)

• IPA^(key): /nu/

nu

1. one

• W. A. L. Stokhof, Preliminary notes on the Alor and Pantar languages (East Indonesia) (1975)
• Internet Archive, The Rosetta Project, Blagar Swadesh List

Inherited from Latin nūdus, from Proto-Indo-European *nogʷós.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈnu]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u

nu (feminine nua, masculine plural nus, feminine plural nues)

1. nude, naked
2. (of things, such as trees, mountains, houses, etc.) barren, bare

• nuesa
• nudista

• IPA^(key): [ˈnu]

nu

1. (dated) expresses prompting

   Nu pojď! ― Come on!

2. (dated) expresses agreement and participation in a conversation

   Synonyms: tak, no, nó

3. (dated) expresses consolation (esp. to a child)

• “nu”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “nu”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “nu”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

From Latin novem.

nu

1. nine

From Latin nōs.

nu

1. (second-person plural pronoun) we

• noi

• ju
• te
• jal, jala
• vu
• jali, jale

From Old Norse nú (“now”), from Proto-Germanic *nu (“now”), from Proto-Indo-European *nu (“now”). Cognate with English now.

• IPA^(key): /nu/, [nu]

nu n (singular definite nuet, not used in plural form)

1. now (present time), present (current time)
2. moment
3. instant

nu

1. now

nu

1. now

• IPA^(key): /ny/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -y

From Middle Dutch nu, from Old Dutch nū, from Proto-Germanic *nu.

nu

1. now, at the present moment

   Kom je nu of morgen?

   Will you be coming now or tomorrow?

2. now, this time (indicating a certain amount of impatience)

   Wat is er nu weer dan?

   What is it now?

• nou
• thans
• heden

• Negerhollands: nue, nu, noe, nou
• Skepi Creole Dutch: nou

nu

1. now (that)

   Nu je het zegt, weet ik het weer.

   Now you're saying it, I do remember it.

From Ancient Greek νῦ (nû). Doublet of noen.

nu m (plural nu's, diminutive nuutje n)

1. n (letter of the Greek alphabet)

• nu on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

From Sorbian or Czech. Cf. no.

• IPA^(key): /nɵ/

nu

1. (Upper Saxon) yes

From Old Norse nú, from Proto-Germanic *nu. Cognate with Swedish nu.

nu

1. now, at this time

From Russian ну (nu) and German nu, of Slavic origin (compare Polish no).

• IPA^(key): /nu/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: nu

nu

1. well (filled pause, particularly at the beginning of a response to a question)

   Nu, li diris, ke li ne volas ĉeesti la feston.

   Well, he said he doesn't want to go to the party.

Likely from Proto-Gbe *-ɖũ.^[1] Cognates include Fon nu, Saxwe Gbe onu, Adja enù, Ayizo nuu and Gun ònù. Possibly related to Yoruba ẹnu, Igbo ọnụ and Igala álu.

nu

1. mouth

• IPA^(key): /ny/

• Audio:

  (file)

Inherited from Old French nu, from Latin nūdus, from Proto-Indo-European *nogʷós.

nu (feminine nue, masculine plural nus, feminine plural nues)

1. (person): naked, nude
2. (body, tree): bare

nu m (plural nus)

1. (art) nude

• → Russian: ню (nju)
• → Ukrainian: ню (nju)

From Ancient Greek νῦ (nû).

nu m (plural nu or nus)

1. nu (Greek letter)

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

• un

From Old Galician-Portuguese nuu, from Latin nūdus, from Proto-Indo-European *nogʷós. Cognate with Portuguese nu.

nu (feminine núa, masculine plural nus, feminine plural núas)

1. naked, nude
2. bare, barren

• nudez

From Proto-Celtic *nu, from Proto-Indo-European *nu.

• IPA^(key): [nu]

nu

1. now

From Middle High German nu, nuo. The form without a final -n remained common in some dialects and was reinforced by German Low German nu, from Middle Low German nû.

• IPA^(key): /nuː/

nu

1. (colloquial or archaic) alternative form of nun

• im Nu

nu

1. (colloquial or archaic) alternative form of nun

From a Slavic dialect, probably Sorbian. Compare Czech ano (“yes”), Polish no (“yeah; well”), Russian ну (nu, “yeah; well”). In the sense of a filled pause touching on etymology 1 above.

• IPA^(key): [nɵ]

nu

1. (colloquial, regional, Saxony) yes; yeah; expresses agreement or understanding
2. (colloquial, regional, Saxony) well; fills pause

nu

1. romanization of 𐌽𐌿

From Proto-Oceanic *niuʀ, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *niuʀ.

• IPA^(key): /nu/, [n̪u]

nu

1. coconut palm

Borrowed from Russian ну (nu).

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈnu/, [ˈnu]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈnu/, [ˈnu]
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: nu

nu

1. synonym of no (“well”)

• Elena Markus (2024) “Syntax and functions of the Ingrian discourse particles no and nu”, in Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri, volume 15, number 1, pages 155-186

• IPA^(key): /ˈnu/
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: nù

nu m or f (invariable)

1. the name of the letter N

• -un-, un, un'

nu

1. The hiragana syllable ぬ (nu) or the katakana syllable ヌ (nu) in Hepburn romanization.

From Portuguese nós.

nu

1. we

• Gonçalves, Manuel (2015) Capeverdean Creole-English dictionary, →ISBN

Kamkata-viri cardinal numbers

<  8	9	10  >
Cardinal : nu

From Proto-Nuristani *nuwa, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hnáwa, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnu/

nu (Kamviri, Western Kata-viri)^[1]

1. nine

From Proto-Oceanic, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ñiuʀ. Compare Pohnpeian nih, Fijian niu, Tongan niu, Hawaiian niu.

• IPA^(key): /nu/

nu

1. coconut

nu

1. you (second-person singular pronoun)

• David E. Watters (2006) “Notes on Kusunda Grammar: A Language Isolate of Nepal”, in Himalayan Linguistics‎^[4], page 44

nu

1. well

   Nu labi! ― Very well!

2. now

   Ko nu? ― What now?

nu

1. well

   Nu, kas notika? ― Well, what happened?

nu

1. nonstandard spelling of nú
2. nonstandard spelling of nǔ
3. nonstandard spelling of nù
4. nonstandard spelling of nǘ
5. nonstandard spelling of nǚ
6. nonstandard spelling of nǜ

• 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.

nu

1. alternative spelling of nou

From Old Dutch nu, from Proto-Germanic *nu.

nu

1. now, currently
   • 1249, Schepenbrief van Bochoute, Velzeke, eastern Flanders:

     Si maken bekent die nu sien ende wesen selen

     They make known to those who are now and will be

2. today
3. here
4. just now

• Dutch: nu
• Limburgish: noe

nu

1. now that
2. since, because

• Dutch: nu
• Limburgish: noe

• “nu”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “nu (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

nu

1. alternative form of nou

Cognate with Vietnamese nâu.

• IPA^(key): /nu¹/

nu

1. (Mường Bi) brown

• 'nu
• n'

From Latin ūnus.

• IPA^(key): /nu/

nu m sg

1. a, an

From Old French nu, from Latin nūdus.

nu m

1. (Jersey) bare

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈnuː/

nū

1. so, thus, like that
2. so, to that extent

• Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎^[5], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

nu m (definite singular nuen, indefinite plural nuer, definite plural nuene)

1. a trough

From Old Norse nú.

nu

1. (archaic or dialectal) now; alternative form of nå

nu

1. alternative form of nå

nu n (definite singular nuet, uncountable)

1. alternative form of nå

• “nu” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

nu m (definite singular nuen, indefinite plural nuar, definite plural nuane)

1. a trough

From Old Norse nú.

nu

1. (dialectal) now; alternative form of no

nu

1. alternative form of no

nu n (definite singular nuet, uncountable)

1. alternative form of no

• “nu” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Proto-Germanic *nu.

nū

1. now
   • wat unbidan we nu?

     what are we waiting for now?

• sinū

• Middle Dutch: nu
  • Dutch: nu
  • Limburgish: noe

• “nū (I)”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

• nuu — Northumbrian

From Proto-West Germanic *nū, from Proto-Germanic *nu.

• IPA^(key): /nuː/

nū

1. now

   Iċ eom nū on þǣre cyċenan.

   I'm in the kitchen right now.

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "On the Passion of the Apostles Peter and Paul"

     Nerō cwæþ, "Hwæt is nū, Simōn? Iċ wēne wit sind oferswīðde."

     Nero said, "What is it now, Simon? I think we've been defeated."

2. just (in the sense "recently")

   Iċ wæs nū on þǣre cyċenan.

   I was just in the kitchen.

3. since
   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy

     Nū ðū þæt swā openlīce onġiten hæfst, ne þearfe ic nū nauht swīþe ymbe þ swincan þæt ic þē mā be gode recce.

     Since thou hast so clearly understood this, I need not now greatly labour in order that I may instruct thee further concerning good;...

   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy

     Þȳ iċ wundriġe hwȳ þū ne mæġe onġietan þæt þū eart nū ġīet swīðe ġesǣliġ, nū þū ġīet leofast and eart hāl.

     So I wonder why you can't understand that you're still very lucky, since you're still alive and healthy.

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "The Seven Sleepers"

     Nu ge þam mærum godum offrian nellað, ne beo ge me næfre heonon-forð swa wurðe ne swa leofe swa ge ær wæron...

     Since ye will not offer to the great gods, ye shall never henceforth be to me so worthy nor so dear as ye were before;...

• nū rihte

• nūna

• Middle English: nou, noue, nowe, nu, no, neue, niu, noug, nough, nuge
  • English: now
  • Geordie English: noo
  • Scots: nou, noo
  • Yola: neow, nowe, now

nū

1. now that

From Latin nūdus.

nu m (oblique and nominative feminine singular nue)

1. naked

nu m (feminine nue)

1. naked

• Middle French: nu, nud
  • French: nu

From Proto-Germanic *nu.

nū

1. now
2. since

Köbler, Gerhard (2014) Altsächsisches Wörterbuch‎^[6] (in German), 5th edition

From Sanskrit नु (nu), from Proto-Indo-European *nu.

nu

1. then, now

nu

1. tumour; abscess

• 2010, Isaac Costa de Souza, A Phonological Description of “Pet Talk” in Arara (MA), SIL Brazil, page 42.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /nu/

nu (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling نوۡ)

1. it
2. he
3. this one (prox masc nom)

• Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “nu”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[7], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /nu/

nu (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling نوۡ)

1. this (agr: prox nom masc)

• Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “nu”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[8], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

nu

1. now

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: nu

nu

1. quick!, forward!
2. (dialectal, Far Masovian) alternative form of no (“yes”)

   Umniés pisać? Nu ale umniem. (Far Masovian) ― Can you write? Yes I can.

• nu in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• M. Arcta Słownik ilustrowany języka polskiego/Nu! on the Polish Wikisource.Wikisource ^pl
• Wojciech Grzegorzewicz (1894) “nu”, in “O języku ludowym w powiecie przasnyskim”, in Sprawozdania Komisji Językowej Akademii Umiejętności (in Polish), volume 5, Krakow: Akademia Umiejętności, page 116

• nú (misspelling)
• nù (obsolete)

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese nuu, from Latin nūdum. Compare Galician nu, Italian nudo, French nu.

• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: nu

nu (feminine nua, masculine plural nus, feminine plural nuas)

1. naked, nude

From Proto-Nuristani, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hnáwa, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥.

• IPA^(key): /nu/ (tone class A)

Prasuni cardinal numbers

<  8	9	10  >
Cardinal : nu

nu (Pronz)^[1]

1. nine

• ну (nu) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling

Inherited from Latin nōn. Compare Aromanian nu.

• IPA^(key): /nu/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u

• Audio:

  (file)

nu

1. no
2. not

Romanian features the double negative. Nu is stressed within a normal sentence, but in a double negative construction is left unstressed in favour of the other negative component.

In speech—even in moderately formal contexts—nu is elided before verbs beginning with a, most notably the past perfect auxiliary avea.

Likewise, nu triggers prodelision before words (of any part of speech) beginning with î. Elision and prodelision are orthographically marked with a hyphen where no line break may occur.

In these cases, the syllable following the n of nu takes the sentence stress, which is stronger than the primary stress of the negated word.

• da

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

nu

1. well

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *nǫ.

• IPA^(key): /nu/

nu (Cyrillic spelling ну)

1. (Croatia) but
2. (Croatia) however

• ȁli, no, nut

nu

1. that, those

• Chicham: Dictionario Enciclopédico Shuar-Castellano

nu m sg

1. (indefinite) a, an

Nu is used only before words beginning with the letter z or s and a consonant, like the Italian uno

• IPA^(key): [nù(ʔ)]
• Hyphenation: nu

nu (stem -nu-)

1. Ford Liard form of ndu

• Keren Rice (1989) A Grammar of Slave, Berlin, West Germany: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 11

nu

1. romanization of 𒉡 (nu)

Shortening of anu.

nu (Sundanese script ᮔᮥ)

1. An article that denotes a noun.

   nu nyaho ― those who know

2. An article that denotes ownership.

   Ieu nu urang, lain? ― This one's mine, right?

nu (Sundanese script ᮔᮥ)

1. which

   Nu mana? ― Which one?

From Old Norse nú, from Proto-Germanic *nu.

• IPA^(key): /nʉː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʉː

nu (not comparable)

1. now (at this moment)

   Hör du mig nu?

   Can you hear me now?

   (literally, “Hear you me now?”)

   Jag har inte tid just nu

   I don't have the time right now

2. Used to emphasize a point in time close to the present; this

   Det är fest på fredag

   There is a party on Friday

   Det är fest nu på fredag

   There is a party this Friday

   – Är festen nästa fredag? – Nej, den är nu på fredag.

   – Is the party next Friday? [Implies next week, like in English] – No, it is this Friday.

   Jag var där i måndags

   I was there on Monday

   Jag var där nu i måndags

   I was there this Monday

• nutid

• till

nu n

1. (usually in the definite) present, now

   att leva i nuet

   to live in the present

   1. moment (when more idiomatic in English)

      att vara närvarande i nuet

      to be present in the moment [the present]

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

From Proto-Tai *ʰnuːᴬ. Cognate with Thai หนู (nǔu), Northern Thai ᩉ᩠ᨶᩪ, Lao ໜູ (nū), Tai Dam ꪘꪴ, Lü ᦐᦴ (ṅuu), Shan ၼူ (nǔu), Zhuang nou, Saek หนู่.

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

nu (𪺹, 𮮬)

1. (zoology) mouse

• Dương Nhật Thanh, Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003) Hoàng Triều Ân, editor, Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày [A Dictionary of (chữ) Nôm Tày]‎^[9] (in Tày and Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học xã hội [Social Sciences Publishing House]
• Lương Bèn (2011) Từ điển Tày-Việt [Tay-Vietnamese dictionary]‎^[10][11] (in Vietnamese), Thái Nguyên: Nhà Xuất bản Đại học Thái Nguyên

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *niuʀ.

nu

1. coconut

• Fransiskus Monteiro (1985) Kamus Tetun-Indonesia [Tetum-Indonesian Dictionary] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan

From English new.

nu

1. new
2. fresh

• IPA^(key): /nu/

-nu

1. this, these (proximal demonstrative determiner)

• leero nu (“now, today”)

• -li (“that (distal demonstrative determiner)”)

• Kaji, Shigeki (2007) A Rutooro Vocabulary‎^[12], Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), →ISBN, page 405

nu

1. now

• nuik

Waigali cardinal numbers

<  8	9	10  >
Cardinal : nu

From Proto-Nuristani *nuwa, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hnáwa, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnu/

nu (Nisheigram)^[1]

1. nine

• IPA^(key): /nu/

nu

1. me (first-person singular indirect object pronoun)

   Pinyanka nu! Katsa umawiu? Nama!

   Tell me! What did [he] say? Come on!

   Puputatain nu kuapi.

   Give me a little [bit of] cotton thread.

• natu (I,me, my, mine)

• E. Ireland field notes. Needs to be checked by a native speaker.

nu

1. we (first-person plural object pronoun)

nu

1. he
2. she

• IPA^(key): /nu˧/

nu

1. mother

• Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 45