FromHawaiianʻōʻū.
ou (pluralous)
- A probably extinct species of Hawaiianhoneycreeper,Psittirostra psittacea.
FromAfrikaansou, probably fromDutchouwe(“old man”).
ou (pluralousorouens)
- (South Africa, colloquial) Afellow,guy,bloke.[from 20th c.]
1962, Jeremy Taylor, “Ag Pleez Deddy”:Ag pleez Deddy won't you take us to the wrestling
We wanna see anou called Sky High Lee
1975, Sheila Roberts,Outside Life's Feast: Short Stories, Johannesburg:Ad. Donker,→ISBN, page27:I couldn't care that theous call me rooinek and sometimes whiterat because of my hair and face. At least I am not a hairyback I tell them.
1978,André Brink,Rumours of Rain, Vintage, published2000, page292:“They're the same good and solidous they'd been before. Because they managed not to think.”
Probably fromouwe, fromDutchoude
ou (pluralouens,diminutiveoutjie)
- anold fellow,guy,bloke
- Synonym:kêrel
FromDutchouwe.
ou
- attributive form ofoud
ou
- cloud
Inherited fromClassical Latinōvum, possibly viaVulgar Latin(*)ŏvum. CompareRomanianou.
ou n (pluraloauã,definite singularoulu,definite pluraloauãli)
- egg
Verb based on etymology 1.
oufirst-singular present indicative (past participleuoatã)
- Alternative form ofoauã tolay an egg (like a hen)
ou
- I
Inherited fromVulgar Latin(*)ŏvum, fromClassical Latinōvum.
ou m (pluralous)
- egg
- (colloquial)ball,testicle
Onomatopoeic.
ou
- (Mallorca, Menorca)whoa!(command to an animal to stop)
ou
- (Valencia, Northern Calatan)inflection ofoir:
- third-personsingularpresentindicative
- second-personsingularimperative
(Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium.)
ou
- (colloquial)oi!,hey!,used for calling out to someone
Inherited fromLatinaut.
ou(ORB, broad)
- or
- ou in DicoFranPro:Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – ondicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
- ou in Lo trèsor Arpitan – onarpitan.eu
Inherited fromOld Frenchou, fromLatinaut.[1]
ou
- or
2011, Christian Depover, Thierry Karsenti,Enseigner avec les technologies: Favoriser les apprentissages, développer des compétences, PUQ,→ISBN:La baladodiffusion est ainsi utilisée comme outil à potentiel cognitif, parce qu’elle permet, relativement facilement, de diffuser un contenu audioou vidéo qui peut, par la suite, être écoutéou vu à tout moment par l’apprenant.- Therefore, podcasting is used as a tool for cognitive potential, because it allows for the relatively easy distribution of audioor video content, which, as a result, can be listened toor watched at any moment by the learner.
- either...or
Ou il est fouou il est bête.- Either he's mador he's stupid.
- ^Picoche, Jacqueline with Jean-Claude Rolland (2009) “ou”, inDictionnaire étymologique du français (in French), Paris: Dictionnaires Le Robert
FromOld Galician-Portugueseou, fromLatinaut.
ou
- or
ou!
- whoa! (order for cattle)
- Synonym:xo
- oh!(vocative)
1775, María Francisca Isla y Losada,Romance:Ôu mèu Crego? Seica qués,
que eu vote a lengoa â pastàr?
Catao ben, e despois non
che pese, ò que ágora fás.
Se contra toda concencia
pensache de min tàn màl,
e estou quixòsa, ¿por que
non me has ti de aloumiñar?- Oh, my clergyman? Perchance you want
that I let my tongue free range?
Watch it carefully, or either don't you later
regret what you do now.
If against all conscience
You thought so badly of me
And I'm cranky, why
wouldn't youcherish me?
- Ernesto Xosé González Seoane,María Álvarez de la Granja,Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “ou”, inDicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela:Instituto da Lingua Galega
- Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “ou”, inDicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela:Instituto da Lingua Galega
- Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández,Ernesto Xosé González Seoane,María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “ou”, inTesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela:Instituto da Lingua Galega
- Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “ou”, inTesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela:Instituto da Lingua Galega,→ISSN
Possibly fromFrenchvous(“you”)
- IPA(key): /u/
ou (upper caseOu)
- Aletter of the Haitian Creolealphabet, written in theLatin script.
ou (contracted formw)
- you (singular)
ou
- yours,yourSecond person singular possessive, o-type.
- Used after negatives, numbers, locative nouns, certain prepositions, and after nouns preceded by an article or a k-determiner.
ou
- (usually impolite)used to get someone's attention;oi,hey
- Ou, mi stai ascoltando? ―Oi, are you listening to me?
Derived fromEnglishhow.
ou
- how
ou iz it?- how is it?
- (literally, “How are things?/How are you?”)
2019, “Recognize Patois As An Official Language; Says UWI”, inJamaicanInsider.com[1]:Juu tuou Jamiekan a di wan langwij we bring evri Jamiekan tugeda;- Due tohow Jamaican is the language that brings all Jamaicans together;
ou
- Rōmaji transcription ofおう
ou (ou5 /ou0,Zhuyin˙ㄡ)
- Hanyu Pinyin reading ofcmn,嘔 /呕
ou
- Nonstandard spelling ofōu.
- Nonstandard spelling ofóu.
- Nonstandard spelling ofǒu.
- Nonstandard spelling ofòu.
- Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the criticaltonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
Probably fromFrenchvous; compareHaitian Creoleou.
ou (informalto)
- you(second-person singular formal personal pronoun)
Mauritian Creole personal pronouns | singular | plural |
|---|
| 1st person | mo
mwa(objective) | nou |
|---|
| 2nd person | to(informal),ou(formal)
twa(objective) | zot |
|---|
| 3rd person | li | zot,bann-la |
|---|
ou n (pluraluauă)
- Alternative form ofuou
ou
- Alternative form ofyow
FromLatinaut.
ou
- or
Contraction fromen+le.
ou
- within
- 15th century,Chronique de Charles VII roi de France par Jean Chartier, Tomé II, edited by Vallet de Viriville. Paris: P. Jannet, 1858, page 18.
Discord et divisionou royaulme de Castile.- Discord and divisionwithin the kingdom of Castile
FromOld Frenchou, fromLatinaut.
ou
- (France, Guernsey)or
FromLatinaut.
ou
- or
FromLatinubi.
ou
- where
- 11th century,La Vie de Saint Alexis,BNF manuscript19525
Dona as povresou qu'il les pout trouver- He gave to the poor wherever he could find them
FromOld Galician-Portugueseou, fromLatinaut.
ou
- or(connects at least two alternative words, phrases, clauses, sentences, etc. each of which could make a passage true)
Escolhe a opção umou a opção dois.- Choose option oneor option two.
- or(connects two equivalent names)
- Synonym:também
Mianmar,ou Birmânia, fica na Ásia.- Myanmar,or Burma, is located in Asia.
For quotations using this term, seeCitations:ou.
ou … ou
- either …or
ou m (pluralous)
- (logic)inclusive or(connective which yields true when at least one of the predicates is true)
For quotations using this term, seeCitations:ou.
Inherited fromClassical Latinōvum, possibly viaVulgar Latin(*)ŏvum.
ou n (pluralouă)
- egg
- (slang, chiefly in theplural)ball(testicle)
Inherited fromClassical Latinōvum, possibly viaVulgar Latin(*)ŏvum.
ou m (pluralovos)(Logudorese, Campidanese)
- egg
- AIS:Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] –map 1132: “l'uovo guasto” – onnavigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
- Wagner, Max Leopold (1960–1964) “óvu”, inDizionario etimologico sardo, Heidelberg
FromOld Frisianof, fromProto-West Germanic*ab, fromProto-Germanic*ab. Cognates includeWest Frisianôf andGermanab.
ou (neuter or distal adverbdeerou,proximal adverbhierou,interrogative adverbwierou)
- from
ou (masculineouen,feminine, plural or definiteoue)
- detached
- tired
- distant
- (games)out
- Marron C. Fort (2015) “ou”, inSaterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske,→ISBN
- IPA(key): /ˈɔu/
- Hyphenation:ò‧u
ou m (pluralova)
- Alternative form ofovu
Onomatopoeic.
ou
- anexclamation to getattention.
Ou, talè cca- Hey, look at this!
- aprotest orreprimand.
Ou! Tàgghiala!- Hey! Stop that!
- anexpression ofsurprise.
Ou! Quant'avìa ca nun ti vidìa!- Hey! How long had I not seen you!
- aninformalgreeting, similar tociau.
Ou! Comu jemu?- Hey! How's it going?
ou
- water
- Transnewguinea.org, citing McElhanon and Voorhoeve (1970), Smallhorn (2011) and Wilson (1969)
FromProto-Polynesian*au, fromProto-Oceanic*(i-)au, fromProto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian*(i-)aku, fromProto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian*(i-)aku, fromProto-Malayo-Polynesian*(i-)aku, fromProto-Austronesian*(i-)aku.
ou
- Alternative form ofau
ou
- water
- Transnewguinea.org, citing McElhanon and Voorhoeve (1970), Smallhorn (2011) and Wilson (1969)
