# tau
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English tau, taue, from Latin tau, from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû) and Hebrew תָּו (tav).
Sense 6 (“mathematical constant equal to 2π”) was used by Joseph M. Lindenberg in 1991, and popularized by the American educator and entrepreneur Michael Hartl in a 2010 paper which explains that τ resembles π; and that τ is the Greek equivalent of t, the first letter of turn, and 2π corresponds to one turn of a circle with a radius of one unit.
Sense 8.1 (“short for tau lepton or tau particle”) was coined by the American physicist Martin Lewis Perl (1927–2014) after the first letter of Ancient Greek τρίτον (tríton, “third”), since the tau lepton or tauon was the third charged lepton discovered.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /taʊ/, /tɔː/
* (General American) IPA: /taʊ/, /tɔ/
** Audio (General American); /taʊ/:(file)
* Rhymes: -aʊ, -ɔː

### Noun

tau (plural taus)
* The letter Τ / τ in the Greek alphabet; being the nineteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek, and the twenty-first letter of the Old and Ancient Greek alphabets.
* Alternative form of taw; the 22nd and last letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic.
** 1847, Richard Edmund Tyrwhitt, Sermons Chiefly Expository, volume I, Oxford: John Henry Parker; F[rancis] and J[ohn] Rivington, London, page 366:Hence it appears that the spits, or skewers, on which and to which the lamb was fixed and fastened in order to be roasted, assumed the form of a cross, not such a tau-cross as is engraved in Dr. Oliver’s Historical Landmarks of Freemasonry, vol. i. p. 80. having three arms only like the Greek letter tau; but a cross like the ancient Hebrew tau, with four arms, though not necessarily all of equal length.
** 1851, D[aniel] Rock, Hierurgia; or Transubstantiation, Invocation of Saints, Relics, and Purgatory, Besides Those Other Articles of Doctrine Set Forth in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Expounded; […], 2nd edition, London: C. Dolman, […], page 350:In the Spanish translation of Sallust, by the Infant Don Gabriel in 1772, called the Infant Sallust, there is a curious dissertation by Father Perez Bayer on the resemblance between the ancient Hebrew and Phœnician alphabets, in which it is observed that the Hebrew Tau was written in pure Phœnician, […]
** 2017, Piers Vaughan, Capitular Development Course, 2nd edition, Rose Circle Publications, →ISBN, page 135:The tau is both the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, and also the 22nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In this context, the Hebrew tau or tav is more pertinent.
* A Τ-shaped object or sign; a Saint Anthony's cross, sometimes regarded as a sacred symbol.
** 1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter I.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 96:Nor ſhall we take in the myſticall Tau, or the Croſſe of our bleſſed Saviour, which having in ſome deſcriptions an Empedon or croſſing foot-ſtay, made not one ſingle tranſverſion.
** (Christianity) A crosier with a Τ-shaped head.
* The ankh symbol (☥).
    Synonym: crux ansata
* (astronomy) Chiefly written τ: used to designate the nineteenth star (usually according to brightness) in a constellation.
* (finance) A measurement of the sensitivity of the value of an option to changes in the implied volatility of the price of the underlying asset.
    Synonyms: kappa, vega
    Hypernym: Greeks (includes a list of coordinate terms)
* (mathematics, neologism) Chiefly written τ: an irrational and transcendental constant representing the ratio of the circumference of a Euclidean circle to its radius, equal to twice the value of pi (2π; approximately 6.2831853071).
* (neurology) Short for tau protein (“a protein abundant especially in the neurons of the human central nervous system that stabilizes microtubules, and when misfolded is associated with forms of dementia such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases”).
** 1999, Matt Ridley, Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, London: Harper Perennial, published 2004, →ISBN, page 263:Quite what that job is remains obscure, but one theory is that it is to stabilise another protein called tau, which is supposed in turn to keep in shape the tubular ‘skeleton’ of a neuron.
* (physics) Chiefly written τ.
** Short for tau lepton or tau particle (“an unstable elementary particle which is a type of lepton, having a mass almost twice that of a proton, a negative charge, and a spin of ½; it decays into hadrons (usually pions) or other leptons, and neutrinos; a tauon”).
** (historical) Short for tau meson, now known as a kaon.

#### Derived terms

* tau bone
* tau cross
* tau effect
* tau lepton
* tau meson
* tau neutrino
* tauon
* tauopathy
* tau particle
* tau protein
* tau staff
* tau tangle

#### Translations
### See also

* (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
* tau-saghyz
* tau yu bak

### References

* ↑ Michael Hartl (2010 June 28) “The Tau Manifesto”, in Tauday.com‎, archived from the original on 30 January 2022, section 4.1 (One Turn):There are two main reasons to use τ for the circle constant. The first is that τ visually resembles π: after centuries of use, the association of π with the circle constant is unavoidable, […] The second reason is that τ corresponds to one turn of a circle, and you may have noticed that “τ” and “turn” both start with a “t” sound.
* ↑ Martin L[ewis] Perl (1977 April) Evidence for, and Properties of, the New Charged Heavy Lepton (SLAC-PUB-1923)‎, archived from the original on 9 July 2021, section 1 (Introduction), page 3; published in Trần Thanh Vân, editor, Proceedings of the Twelfth Rencontre de Moriond: Flaine, Haute-Savoie, France, March, 6–18, 1977 (Moriond Proceedings; 19), volumes 1 (Leptons and Multileptons), Orsay, Paris: Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Particules Elémentaires [Laboratory of Theoretical Physics and Elementary Particles], Université de Paris-Sud, 1977, →OCLC, pages 75–97:Since there is now substantial evidence that it [the new elementary particle] is a lepton, we wish to designate it by a lower case Greek letter. We use $\tau ^{\pm }$ because it appears to be the third charged lepton to be found and τριτον means third in Greek. We feel the old use of $\tau$ to designate the three pion decay mode of the K is now obsolete.

### Further reading

* tau on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* tau cross on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* tau (particle) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* tau protein on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* turn (angle) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* tau (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* AUT, UAT, UTA, Uta, aut-, uta

## 'Are'are
### Verb

tau
* to give

### References

* Kateřina Naitoro, A Sketch Grammar of 'Are'are: The Sound System and Morpho-Syntax (2013)

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈtaw]
* Rhymes: -aw

### Noun

tau f (plural taus)
* Tau; the Greek letter Τ (lowercase τ)
* tav; the Hebrew letter ת
* (religion) a tau cross

## Czech
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈtau̯]

### Noun

tau n (indeclinable)
* tau (Greek letter)

### Further reading

* “tau”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
* tau in Akademický slovník cizích slov, 1995, at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz

## Dutch
### Etymology

From Middle Dutch tau, thau, from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû). Doublet of taw, tav.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

tau n (plural taus, diminutive tautje n)
* tau (Greek letter)

### Further reading

* tau (letter) on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia $^{nl}$

## Finnish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû).
Greek letter :
| Ττ | Previous: | sigma |
| Ττ | Next: | ypsilon |

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtɑu̯/, [ˈt̪ɑ̝u̯]
* Rhymes: -ɑu
* Hyphenation: tau

### Noun

tau
* tau (Greek letter)
* tauon, tau (elementary particle)

#### Declension

Possessive forms of tau (Kotus type 21/rosé, no gradation) :
first-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
tauni
tauni
accusative
nom.
tauni
tauni
gen.
tauni
genitive
tauni
tauideni tauitteni
partitive
tautani
tauitani
inessive
taussani
tauissani
elative
taustani
tauistani
illative
tauhuni
tauihini
adessive
taullani
tauillani
ablative
taultani
tauiltani
allative
taulleni
tauilleni
essive
taunani
tauinani
translative
taukseni
tauikseni
abessive
tauttani
tauittani
instructive
comitative
—tauineni
second-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
tausi
tausi
accusative
nom.
tausi
tausi
gen.
tausi
genitive
tausi
tauidesi tauittesi
partitive
tautasi
tauitasi
inessive
taussasi
tauissasi
elative
taustasi
tauistasi
illative
tauhusi
tauihisi
adessive
taullasi
tauillasi
ablative
taultasi
tauiltasi
allative
taullesi
tauillesi
essive
taunasi
tauinasi
translative
tauksesi
tauiksesi
abessive
tauttasi
tauittasi
instructive
comitative
—tauinesi
first-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
taumme
taumme
accusative
nom.
taumme
taumme
gen.
taumme
genitive
taumme
tauidemme tauittemme
partitive
tautamme
tauitamme
inessive
taussamme
tauissamme
elative
taustamme
tauistamme
illative
tauhumme
tauihimme
adessive
taullamme
tauillamme
ablative
taultamme
tauiltamme
allative
taullemme
tauillemme
essive
taunamme
tauinamme
translative
tauksemme
tauiksemme
abessive
tauttamme
tauittamme
instructive
comitative
—tauinemme
second-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
taunne
taunne
accusative
nom.
taunne
taunne
gen.
taunne
genitive
taunne
tauidenne tauittenne
partitive
tautanne
tauitanne
inessive
taussanne
tauissanne
elative
taustanne
tauistanne
illative
tauhunne
tauihinne
adessive
taullanne
tauillanne
ablative
taultanne
tauiltanne
allative
taullenne
tauillenne
essive
taunanne
tauinanne
translative
tauksenne
tauiksenne
abessive
tauttanne
tauittanne
instructive
comitative
—tauinenne
third-person possessor
singular
plural
nominative
taunsa
taunsa
accusative
nom.
taunsa
taunsa
gen.
taunsa
genitive
taunsa
tauidensa tauittensa
partitive
tautaan tautansa
tauitaan tauitansa
inessive
taussaan taussansa
tauissaan tauissansa
elative
taustaan taustansa
tauistaan tauistansa
illative
tauhunsa
tauihinsa
adessive
taullaan taullansa
tauillaan tauillansa
ablative
taultaan taultansa
tauiltaan tauiltansa
allative
taulleen taullensa
tauilleen tauillensa
essive
taunaan taunansa
tauinaan tauinansa
translative
taukseen tauksensa
tauikseen tauiksensa
abessive
tauttaan tauttansa
tauittaan tauittansa
instructive
comitative
—tauineen tauinensa :

#### Derived terms

* antitau

### Further reading

* “tau”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

### Anagrams

* -tua

## French
### Alternative forms

* (in the plural) taus (1990 spelling reform)

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /to/
* Audio (Paris):(file)
* Homophones: taus, taux, tôt

### Noun

tau m (plural tau or taus)
* tau (Greek letter)
* (physics) tau, tauon

#### Derived terms

* tauique

### Further reading

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

### Anagrams

* tua

## Galician
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtaw/ [ˈt̪ɑw]
* Rhymes: -aw
* Hyphenation: tau

### Noun

tau m (plural taus)
* tau (name of the Greek letter Τ, τ)

### References

* “tau”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

## German Low German
### Alternative forms

* to (in some dialects)

### Etymology

Middle Low German tô.

### Preposition

tau
* (in some dialects) to

#### Derived terms

* taum
* taun
* taur

## Hokkien

* For pronunciation and definitions of tau – see 兜 (“helmet; hood; helmet-shaped; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 兜).
* For pronunciation and definitions of tau – see 掜 (“to pick up with one's fingers pressed on both sides”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 掜).
* For pronunciation and definitions of tau – see 㨮 (“to box someone's ears; to slap someone on the face”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 㨮).
* For pronunciation and definitions of tau – see 兜 (“helmet; hood; helmet-shaped; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 兜).

## Huichol
### Noun

tau
* sun

## Hungarian
### Etymology

From Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈtɒu]
* Hyphenation: tau
* Rhymes: -u

### Noun

tau (plural tauk)
* tau (Greek letter)

#### Declension
## Iban

* A user suggests that this Iban entry be cleaned up, giving the reason: “this means "ought, should" but it's listed as an alternative form in tauk which in that entry it means "to know"”.
* Please see the discussion on Requests for cleanup or the talk page for more information and remove this template after the problem has been dealt with.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tauʔ/

### Verb

tau
* ought, should

## Icelandic
### Etymology

Borrowed from Danish tøj.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tʰøyː/
* Rhymes: -øyː

### Noun

tau n (genitive singular taus, no plural)
* fabric
* clothing

#### Declension
## Indonesian
### Pronunciation

* (Standard Indonesian) IPA: /ˈtau/ [ˈt̪a.u]
* Syllabification: ta‧u

### Etymology 1
#### Verb

tau
* (colloquial) Alternative form of tahu (“to know”)

### Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû).

#### Noun

tau
* tau (the letter Τ / τ in the Greek alphabet; being the nineteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek, and the twenty-first letter of the Old and Ancient Greek alphabets)

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtaw/
* Rhymes: -aw
* Hyphenation: tàu

### Noun

tau m or f (invariable)
* tau (Greek letter)

### Anagrams

* -uta, tua

## Japanese
### Romanization

tau
* Rōmaji transcription of たう

## Kambera
### Verb

tau
* person
    na tau na pa-hi dà-ngguthe person that I cried with

### References

* Marian Klamer (1998) A Grammar of Kambera, Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 328

## Kapampangan
### Alternative forms

* tauo (Spanish orthography, obsolete)
* tawu (Súlat Wáwâ)

### Etymology 1

From Proto-Philippine *tau, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Austronesian *Cau.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtau/ [ˈtäː.u]
* Hyphenation: ta‧u

#### Noun

táu
* person; human; man
* someone; people; human being
* boyfriend; girlfriend; lover

### Etymology 2
#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /təˈu/ [təˈuː]
* Hyphenation: ta‧u

#### Noun

taú
* feast; party; banquet

## Kendayan
### Numeral

tau
* three

## Lithuanian
### Pronoun

tau
* second-person singular dative of tu

## Makasar
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtau/, [ˈt̪ʰa.u]
* Hyphenation: ta‧u

### Etymology 1

From Inherited from Proto-South Sulawesi *tau, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Austronesian *Cau.

#### Noun

tau (Lontara spelling ᨈᨕᨘ)
* people, person, man
* slave, laborer, coolie

##### Affixations

* attau
* katauang
* pattau toàng
* pattauang
* tau-tau
* tauang

##### Compounds

* rupa tau
* tannga tau
* tau romang

### Etymology 2

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqu, from Proto-Austronesian *Caqu (“to know how, be able to, be skilled at”).

#### Adjective

tau (Lontara spelling ᨈᨕᨘ)
* friendly, amicably, being familiar with someone.
* tame, domesticated

##### Affixations

* appattau
* pakatau
* pakatauang
* tauang

#### Root

tau (Lontara spelling ᨈᨕᨘ)
* This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

##### Affixations

* appattau
* pattau
* pattauang

### Further reading

* A. A. Cense (2024) Makassaars-Nederlands woordenboek‎, Brill, →DOI

## Malay
### Alternative forms

* tahu
* تاهو

### Etymology 1

From Proto-Malayic *tahu(ʔ), from Proto-Malayo-Chamic, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqu, from Proto-Austronesian *Caqu.

#### Pronunciation

* (Kedah) IPA: /tau/
* IPA: /ta.u/
* Rhymes: -au, -u

#### Verb

tau
* (informal) Alternative form of tahu (“to know”)

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from English tau, from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tau/

#### Noun

tau (Jawi spelling تاو, plural tau-tau, informal 1st possessive tauku, 2nd possessive taumu, 3rd possessive taunya)
* the Greek letter tau (Τ or τ)

### Further reading

* “tau” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

## Maori
### Etymology 1

From Proto-Polynesian *taqu (compare Hawaiian kau), from Proto-Oceanic, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqun (compare Malay tahun, Tagalog taón).

#### Noun

tau
* year (time it takes for the Earth to complete one revolution of the Sun)
* year (time it takes for any planetary body to make one revolution around another body)
* year (a period between set dates that mark a year)
* year (scheduled part of a calendar year spent in a specific activity)
* year (Julian year)
* year (level or grade at school or college)

### Etymology 2

From Proto-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Oceanic, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taʀuq (compare Malay taruh).

#### Verb

tau
* to settle

### Etymology 3

From Proto-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Oceanic, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqu, from Proto-Austronesian *Caqu (compare Malay tahu).

#### Noun

tau (used in the form mātau)
* knowledge

#### Verb

tau (used in the form mātau)
* (stative) to know

### References

* “tau” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.

## Minangkabau
### Etymology

From Proto-Malayic *tahu(ʔ), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqu, from Proto-Austronesian *Caqu.

### Verb

tau
* to know

### Further reading

* Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*Caqu”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

## Niuean
### Etymology 1

From Proto-Polynesian *taqu, from Proto-Oceanic, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqun.

#### Noun

tau
* year

### Etymology 2

From Proto-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Oceanic, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taʀuŋ.

#### Verb

tau
* fight

## North Frisian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [tʰaʊ̯]

### Etymology 1

From Old Frisian twā.

#### Numeral

tau (Föhr-Amrum, Sylt, Heligoland)
* two

##### Alternative forms

* twäär (Mooring)

##### Coordinate terms

| | —0 | —1 | —2 | —3 | —4 | —5 | —6 | —7 | —8 | —9 |
| 0— | nol | een | tau | trii | fjauer | fiiw | seeks | sööwen | aacht | njüügen |
| 1— | tjiin | elwen | twaalew | tretanj | fjauertanj | füftanj | seekstanj | sööwentanj | aagetanj | njüügentanj |
| 2— | twuntig | ianantwuntig | tauantwuntig | triiantwuntig | fjauerantwuntig | fiiwantwuntig | seeksantwuntig | sööwenantwuntig | aachtantwuntig | njüügenantwuntig |
| 3— | dörtig | ianandörtig | tauandörtig | triiandörtig | fjauerandörtig | fiiwandörtig | seeksandörtig | sööwenandörtig | aachtandörtig | njüügenandörtig |
| 4— | fiartig | iananfiartig | tauanfiartig | triianfiartig | fjaueranfiartig | fiiwanfiartig | seeksanfiartig | sööwenanfiartig | aachtanfiartig | njüügenanfiartig |
| 5— | föftig | iananföftig | tauanföftig | triianföftig | fjaueranföftig | fiiwanföftig | seeksanföftig | sööwenanföftig | aachtanföftig | njüügenanföftig |
| 6— | söstig | ianansöstig | tauansöstig | triiansöstig | fjaueransöstig | fiiwansöstig | seeksansöstig | sööwenansöstig | aachtansöstig | njüügenansöstig |
| 7— | sööwentig | ianansööwentig | tauansööwentig | triiansööwentig | fjaueransööwentig | fiiwansööwentig | seeksansööwentig | sööwenansööwentig | aachtansööwentig | njüügenansööwentig |
| 8— | tachentig | ianantachentig | tauantachentig | triiantachentig | fjauerantachentig | fiiwantachentig | seeksantachentig | sööwenantachentig | aachtantachentig | njüügenantachentig |
| 9— | neegentig | iananneegentig | tauanneegentig | triianneegentig | fjaueranneegentig | fiiwanneegentig | seeksanneegentig | sööwenanneegentig | aachtanneegentig | njüügenanneegentig |

### Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *þwahaną.

#### Verb

tau
* (Föhr-Amrum) to wash

##### Alternative forms

* taui (Sylt)
* tüünj (Mooring)

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology 1

From Old Norse tog (rope).

#### Noun

tau n (definite singular tauet, indefinite plural tau, definite plural taua or tauene)
* a rope
* (physics) tau lepton
* tau (Greek letter)

##### Synonyms

* (rope): rep, reip

##### Derived terms

* ståltau
* taubane
* tauverk

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

tau
* imperative of taue

### References

* “tau” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology 1

From earlier and Old Norse tog (“rope”), from Proto-Germanic *taugō.

#### Alternative forms

* tog (superseded)

#### Noun

tau n (definite singular tauet, indefinite plural tau, definite plural taua)
* a rope

##### Synonyms

* (rope): reip

##### Derived terms

* ståltau
* taubane
* tauverk

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû).

#### Noun

tau m (definite singular tauen, indefinite plural tauar, definite plural tauane)
* tau: The letter Τ/τ in the Greek, Hebrew and ancient Semitic alphabets, being the nineteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek, the twenty-first letter of Old and Ancient Greek.
* (physics) tau lepton

### References

* “tau” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

### Anagrams

* Tau, tua

## Occitan
### Etymology

From Latin talis.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /taw/
* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

tau m (feminine singular tala, masculine plural taus, feminine plural talas)
* (Gascony, Provençal, Limousin, Vivaro-alpine, Auvergne) such

#### Alternative forms

* tal

## Polish
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû), from Phoenician 𐤕 (t /⁠taw⁠/).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtaw/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -aw
* Syllabification: tau

### Noun

tau n (indeclinable)
* tau (Greek letter Τ, τ)

### Further reading

* tau in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈtaw/ [ˈtaʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈtaw/
* Homophone: tal (Brazil)
* Rhymes: -aw
* Hyphenation: tau

### Noun

tau m (plural taus)
* tau (name of the Greek letter Τ, τ)
* (physics) tauon

## Sotho
### Noun

tau class 9/10 (plural ditau)
* lion

#### Descendants

* → Phuthi: idawû

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtau/ [ˈt̪au̯]
* Audio (Colombia):(file)
* Rhymes: -au
* Syllabification: tau

### Noun

tau f (plural taus)
* tau; the Greek letter Τ, τ
* tauon (elementary particle)
    Synonym: tauón

### See also

* (Greek-script letter names) letra; alfa, beta, gamma, delta, épsilon, dseda, eta, zeta, iota, kappa, lambda, mi, ni, xi, ómicron, pi, ro, sigma, tau, ípsilon, fi, ji, psi, omega
* leptons: electrón · muón · tau/tauón · neutrino (neutrino electrónico · neutrino muónico · neutrino tauónico)

### Further reading

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

## Tagalog
### Pronoun

tau (Baybayin spelling ᜆᜌᜓ) (text messaging)
* Abbreviation of tayo.

## Tahitian
### Adjective

tau
* some

#### Synonyms

* nau

#### References

* Yves Lemaître, Lexique du tahitien contemporain (Current Tahitian lexicon), 1995.
* “tau” in Dictionnaire en ligne Tahitien/Français (Online Tahitian–French Dictionary), by the Tahitian Academy.

## Tausug
### Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tau.

### Pronunciation

* (Sinūgan Parianun) IPA: /taʔu/ [t̪aˈʔu]
* Rhymes: -u
* Syllabification: ta‧u

### Noun

tau (Sulat Sūg spelling تَؤُ)
* person
* human

#### Derived terms

* pagkatau
* Tausūg

## Ternate
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈta.u]

### Verb

tau
* to pull

#### Conjugation
### References

* Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

## Tetum
### Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taʀuq, compare Maori tau and Indonesian taruh.

### Verb

tau
* to put, to place

## Tocharian B
### Etymology

From Middle Chinese 斗 (MC tuwX).

### Noun

tau ? sg (irregular plural towä or tom or taum)
* a dry measure, roughly equivalent to ten quarts or 1.25 pecks

### References

* ↑ Adams, Douglas Q. (1999) “tau”, in A dictionary of Tocharian B (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, →ISBN
* ↑ 2003, Alexander Lubotsky, Sergey Starostin, “Turkic and Chinese loan words in Tocharian”, in Bauer, Brigitte L.M., Pinault, Georges-Jean, editors, Language in Time and Space: A Festschrift for Werner Winter on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday, pages 257-269:

## Tokelauan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈta.u]
* Hyphenation: ta‧u

### Etymology 1

From Proto-Polynesian *te-qa-u.

#### Determiner

tau
* (alienable, definite) thy, your

##### See also

$^{1)}$ Sympathetic

### Etymology 2

From Proto-Polynesian *taqu. Cognates include Hawaiian kau and Samoan tau.

#### Noun

tau
* season
* weather
* climate

### Etymology 3

From Proto-Polynesian *tau. Cognates include Tongan tou and Samoan tau.

#### Verb

tau
* (transitive) to pick

##### Usage notes

* tau is used to refer to flowers and fruits, with the exception of the coconut and pandanus.

### Etymology 4

From Proto-Polynesian *tau. Cognates include Tongan tau and Samoan tau.

#### Verb

tau
* (intransitive) to fight; to quarrel
* (intransitive) to compete

### Etymology 5

From Proto-Polynesian *tau. Cognates include Maori tau and Samoan tau.

#### Verb

tau (plural tatau)
* (intransitive) to hit
* (intransitive) to land
* (intransitive) to arrive
* (intransitive) to anchor
* (intransitive, of fish) to settle down

### Etymology 6

From Proto-Polynesian *tau. Cognates include Tuvaluan tau and Samoan tau.

#### Verb

tau
* (transitive, of months) to count

### Etymology 7

From Proto-Polynesian *tau. Cognates include Rapa tau and Samoan tau.

#### Noun

tau
* The point where the keel meets the stern of the canoe.

### Etymology 8
#### Noun

tau
* Fresh nest fern leaves, used to cover a traditional oven.

### Etymology 9
#### Particle

tau
* Used to indicate the exclusiveness of the following noun or pronoun; just, only, merely

### Etymology 10
#### Particle

tau
* Used to indicate the focus lies on the following noun; concerning, regarding

### Etymology 11
#### Particle

tau
* Used to indicate that the action of the following verb is beginning; starting to; beginning to

### Etymology 12
#### Verb

tau
* Only used in tau ma (“to be fed up with”)

### References

* R. Simona, editor (1986), Tokelau Dictionary‎, Auckland: Office of Tokelau Affairs, page 342

## Tongan
### Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taʀuŋ.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ta.u/

### Verb

tau
* fight

## Tswana
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tà.ú/

### Noun

tau class 9/10 (plural ditau)
* lion

## Vietnamese
### Pronunciation

* (Vinh) IPA: [taw˧˥]
* (Hà Nội) IPA: [taw˧˧]
* (Huế) IPA: [taw˧˧]
* (Saigon) IPA: [ta(ː)w˧˧]

### Pronoun

tau
* North Central Vietnam form of tao (“I/me”)

### Anagrams

* tua

## Welsh
### Pronunciation

* (North Wales) IPA: /taɨ̯/
* (South Wales) IPA: /tai̞/

### Verb

tau
* (literary) third-person singular present indicative/future of tewi

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

## White Hmong
### Etymology

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *təuk, from Old Chinese 得 (OC *tɯːɡ).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tau̯˧/

### Verb

tau
* to get, gain, obtain
* (used preverbally) perfective action marker
    Kuv tsis tau ua. ― I didn't do that.
* (used postverbally) potential mood marker
    Ua tau. ― May be done.

### References

* Heimbach, Ernest E. (1979) White Hmong — English Dictionary‎, SEAP Publications, →ISBN.
* ↑ Ratliff, Martha (2010) Hmong-Mien language history (Studies in Language Change; 8), Camberra, Australia: Pacific Linguistics, →ISBN, page 254; 283.

## Woccon
### Noun

tau
* fire