mu

See also: μ, Μ, and Appendix:Variations of "mu"

English

Ancient Greek Alphabet

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

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /muː/, /mjuː/
  • Rhymes: -uː
  • Homophone: moo (first pronunciation only)
  • Homophone: mew (second pronunciation only)
• IPA^(key): /mju/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -uː
  • Homophone: mew

Noun

mu (countable and uncountable, plural mus)

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

Derived terms

• mu-meson, muon
• mu-metal

Translations

Greek letter

• Arabic: مُو m (mū)
• Catalan: mi (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 繆／缪 (zh) (miào), 姆 (zh) (mǔ), 米歐／米欧 (zh) (mǐ'ōu)

• Czech: mí (cs)
• Danish: my (da)
• Dutch: mu (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: muo (eo)
• Finnish: myy (fi)
• French: mu (fr) m
• German: My (de) n
• Greek: μι (el) n (mi)

  Ancient: μῦ n (mû)

• Hungarian: mű (hu)
• Japanese: ミュー (myū), ミ (ja) (mi)
• Korean: 뮤 (ko) (myu)
• Malay: mu (ms)
• Persian: مو (fa) (mu)
• Polish: mi (pl) n, my (pl) n
• Portuguese: mi (pt) m
• Russian: мю (ru) n (mju), ми (ru) n (mi) (modern Greek only)
• Swedish: my (sv)
• Tagalog: mu
• Thai: มิว (miu)

an instance of that letter

• Finnish: myy (fi)

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

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

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

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

Interjection

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!'

Noun

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.

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

• (nothingness): See also Thesaurus:inexistence

See also

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

Etymology 3

From Mandarin 畝／亩 (mǔ).

Noun

mu (plural mu)

1. A unit of surface area, currently equivalent two-thirds of a decare (about 666 meters squared).
   • 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^[1], →ISBN, →ISSN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 125‎^[2]:

     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.

Anagrams

• 'um, -um, UM, um, um-

Anguthimri

Noun

mu

1. (Mpakwithi) buttocks

References

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

Asturian

Interjection

mu

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

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmu]

• Audio:

  (file)

Pronoun

mu

1. singular dative masculine of on

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

Synonyms

• jemu

Estonian

Pronoun

mu

1. genitive singular of ma

Usage notes

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

Extremaduran

Adverb

mu

1. very

See also

• muchu

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /my/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

mu m (plural mu)

1. mu (Greek letter)

Participle

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

1. post-1990 spelling of mû

Further reading

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

Hanga Hundi

Noun

mu

1. (a) crocodile

Further reading

• Hanga Hundi Organised Phonology Data (2011)

Hausa

Etymology

Cognates include Mangas mun, Polci mii, Miship mun.

Pronunciation

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

Pronoun

mū

1. we (1st person plural pronoun)

Ikobi-Mena

Noun

mu (Mena), mụ (Ikobi)

1. water

References

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

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mu/

Pronoun

mu

1. (text messaging, informal) Alternative spelling of -mu.

Italian

Pronunciation

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

Noun

mu m or f (invariable)

1. the name of the letter M

Japanese

Romanization

mu

1. Rōmaji transcription of む
2. Rōmaji transcription of ム

Jingpho

Etymology

Borrowed from Burmese မူး (mu:).

Noun

mu

1. two anna bit

References

• Kurabe, Keita (2016 December 31) “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, in Kyoto University Linguistic Research‎^[3], volume 35, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 91–128

Jurchen

Noun

mu

1. water

References

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

Kituba

Pronoun

mu

1. I

Kom (Cameroon)

Etymology 1

Noun

mu

1. water

Etymology 2

Adjective

mu

1. old

References

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

Lashi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mu/

Verb

mu

1. to happen

References

• Hkaw Luk (2017) A grammatical sketch of Lacid‎^[4], Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis)

Malay

Etymology

Shortened form of kamu, from Proto-Malayic *kamu(ʔ), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *(i-)kamu, *kamiu, from Proto-Austronesian *(i-)kamu, *kamiu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mu/
• Rhymes: -mu, -u

Pronoun

mu

1. you

See also

Malay personal pronouns
		singular	plural
1st person	standard	saya／ساي aku／اکو, ku-／كو- (informal/towards God) -ku／-كو (informal possessive) hamba／همبا (dated)	kami／کامي (exclusive) kita orang／كيت اورڠ (informal exclusive) kita／کيت (inclusive)
	royal	beta／بيتا
2nd person	standard	kamu／کامو anda／اندا (formal)
		engkau／اڠکاو, kau-／كاو- (informal/towards God) awak／اوق (friendly/older towards younger) -mu／-مو (possessive)	awak semua／اوق سموا kamu semua／كامو سموا kalian／کالين (informal) kau orang／كاو اورڠ (informal)
	royal	tuanku／توانكو
3rd person	standard	dia／دي ia／اي beliau／بلياو (honorific) -nya／-ڽ (possessive)	mereka／مريک dia orang／دي اورڠ (informal)
	royal	baginda／بݢيندا

Mandarin

Romanization

mu

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

Usage notes

• 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.

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈmuː/

Pronoun

mū

1. accusative/genitive of mun

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mu]

Determiner

mu (triggers lenition)

1. Alternative form of mo (“my”)

Polish

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

• jemu, niemu

Pronoun

mu m

1. dative singular mute of on

Pronoun

mu n

1. dative singular mute of ono

See also

• Appendix:Polish pronouns

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

mu

1. moo (sound made by cows and bulls)

Derived terms

noun

• muczenie

 

verb

• muczeć

 

Further reading

• mu in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• mu in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmu/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmu/

• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: mu

Etymology 1

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

Noun

mu m (plural mus)

1. mule

   Synonym: mulo

Related terms

• mua
• mula
• mulato
• mulo

 

Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek μῦ (mû).

Noun

mu m (plural mus)

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

Etymology 3

Onomatopoeic.

Alternative forms

• muu, muuu, etc.

Interjection

1. moo (the call of a cow)

Romanian

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

mu

1. moo (sound made by cows)

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mə/, [ma]

Preposition

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.

Inflection

Personal inflection of mu
Number	Person	Simple	Emphatic
Singular	1st	umam	umamsa
	2nd	umad	umadsa
	3rd m	uime	uimesan
	3rd f	uimpe	uimpese
Plural	1st	umainn	umainne
	2nd	umaibh	umaibhse
	3rd	umpa	umpasan

Derived terms

• mu chuairt air (“about”)
• mu chuairt (“around”)
• mu dheidhinn (“concerning”)
• mu dheireadh (“last (adjective); at last”)
• mun cuairt (“around”)

 

Serbo-Croatian

Pronoun

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”))

Declension

    Inflection of 3rd-person pronouns

	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
nominative	ȏn	òna	òno	òni	òne	òna
genitive	njȅga, ga	njȇ, je	njȅga, ga	njȋh, ih	njȋh, ih	njȋh, ih
dative	njȅmu, mu	njȏj, joj	njȅmu, mu	njȉma, im	njȉma, im	njȉma, im
accusative	njȅga, ga, nj	njȗ, ju, je	njȅga, ga, nj	njȋh, ih	njȋh, ih	njȋh, ih
vocative	—	—	—	—	—	—
locative	njȅm, njȅmu	njȏj	njȅm, njȅmu	njȉma	njȉma	njȉma
instrumental	njȋm, njíme	njȏm, njóme	njȋm, njíme	njȉma	njȉma	njȉma

Spanish

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

mu

1. moo (sound of a cow)

Derived terms

• ni mu
• no decir ni mu

 

Etymology 2

Noun

mu f (plural múes)

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

Etymology 3

Adverb

mu

1. (slang) Clipping of muy.

Further reading

• “mu”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

Sumerian

Romanization

mu

1. Romanization of 𒈬 (mu)

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ʉː

Interjection

mu

1. moo

Noun

mu n

1. moo; the sound of a cow or a bull

See also

• råma

Anagrams

• -um

Tày

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

mu (𤝕, 牳)

1. pig

References

• 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

Tooro numbers ^(edit)

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

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mu/

Numeral

-mu

1. one
2. the same (when used in the plural)

Declension

Inflected forms of -mu

Noun class	indefinite		definite
	singular	plural	singular	plural
1/2	omu	bamu	omu	abamu
3/4	gumu	emu	ogumu	emu
5/6	limu	gamu	erimu	agamu
7/8	kimu	bimu	ekimu	ebimu
9/10	emu	zimu	emu	ezimu
11/10	rumu		orumu
12/14	kamu	bumu	akamu	obumu
13		tumu		otumu
14/6	bumu	gamu	obumu	agamu
15/6	kumu		okumu
16	hamu		ahamu
18

Derived terms

• obumu (“unity”)
• hamu (“together”)

Turkish

Particle

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?

Usage notes

• 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?

Tzotzil

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mu/

Etymology 1

Adjective

mu

1. delicious

Etymology 2

Particle

mu

1. (negation) not

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

Synonyms

• muk'

Derived terms

(particles)

• mu'yuk

References

• “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.

Vietnamese

Etymology

It is not clear which between "pubic region" and "shell" is the more original, although the sense "back" is certainly a derivative.

Compare Zhuang moz.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

mu • (模)

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

   mu bàn tay ― back of the hand

3. the shells of some animals

   Synonym: mai

Volapük

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish muy (“very”).

Adverb

mu

1. extremely

West Makian

Etymology

Compare Ternate omu (“ripe”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mu/

Verb

mu

1. (stative) to be ripe

Conjugation

Conjugation of mu (stative verb)
		singular	plural
			inclusive	exclusive
1st person		timu	mimu	amu
2nd person		nimu	fimu
3rd person	inanimate	imu	dimu
	animate	mamu
imperative		—, mu	—, mu

Alternative forms

• mo

References

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎^[5], Pacific linguistics

Yoruba

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

• mọ (Ọ̀wọ̀, Ìkálẹ̀)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mũ̄/

Verb

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.

Derived terms

• ajẹ-òkúta-má-mu-omi
• ẹmu (“palm wine”)
• momi (“to drink water”)
• mọtí (“to drink alcohol”)
• mugbó (“to smoke weed”)
• mumi (“to drink water”)
• mutí (“to drink alcohol”)
• mímu (“drinkable, drinking”)

 

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mṹ/

Verb

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.

Derived terms

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

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mũ̀/

Verb

mù

1. to be hidden

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

Etymology 4

Cognates with Yoruba mọ̀

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mũ̀/

Verb

mù

1. (Ijebu) to know

Derived terms

• mùwé (“to be smart”)

 

Zou

Verb

mu

1. see

References

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