Wu
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwuː/
enpr: wo͞o
Etymology: Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 吳 /吴 (Wú). Doublet of O.
Senses: glosses: Suzhou, a city in southern Jiangsu province in China, whence:
A county of imperial and Republican China around Suzhou.
glosses: Suzhou, a city in southern Jiangsu province in China, whence:
A commandery of imperial China around Suzhou.
examples: text: Linguists say the Wu dialect widely spoken in Shanghai, to take one prominent example, shares only about 31 percent lexical similarity with Mandarin, or roughly the same as English and French.
The encounter at the Datian market began when the dumpling seller approached the foreigner with a phrase that sounded like "goodbye" in the Wu dialect. Knowing it must mean something else, the foreigner guessed she was asking his name, and provided it, producing a laugh from the woman who explained, switching to Mandarin, that she had asked if he had eaten lately.
ref: 2005 July 10, Howard W. French, “Uniting China to Speak Mandarin, the One Official Language: Easier Said Than Done”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 May 2017, World:
glosses: A historic and cultural region of China around the mouth of the Yangtze River, whence:
The family of Chinese languages spoken in that region, including Shanghainese and Suzhounese, the second-most spoken family after Mandarin.
examples: text: The finest private gardens were built in Suzhou, a graceful old city with a network of canals and a cultured ambiance. It was founded in the sixth century B.C. as the capital of the kingdom of Wu and flourished as a center of trade and scholarship under successive dynasties.
ref: 1984 June 3, Christopher S. Wren, “WHERE THE CHINESE GARDEN BLOOMS”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 May 2015, Travel:
glosses: A historic and cultural region of China around the mouth of the Yangtze River, whence:
The kingdom ruled by the Ji family from Wuxi and then Suzhou during the Spring and Autumn period of China's Zhou dynasty.
glosses: A historic and cultural region of China around the mouth of the Yangtze River, whence:
A common surname from Chinese
examples: text: I deeply regretted having to miss seeing Hsing-ping, a very old town built by the ruler of the Wu Kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period of the third century.
ref: 1977, Yee Chiang, “Kuei-lin and Yang-shuo”, in China Revisited, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 155:
glosses: A historic and cultural region of China around the mouth of the Yangtze River, whence:
The kingdom ruled by the Sun family from Ezhou and Nanjing during the Three Kingdoms interregnum following China's Han dynasty.
glosses: A historic and cultural region of China around the mouth of the Yangtze River, whence:
The kingdom ruled by Li Zitong from Yangzhou and Hangzhou during the interregnum following China's Sui dynasty.
glosses: A historic and cultural region of China around the mouth of the Yangtze River, whence:
The kingdom ruled by the Yang family from Yangzhou during the Ten Kingdoms interregnum following China's Tang dynasty.
glosses: A historic and cultural region of China around the mouth of the Yangtze River, whence:
The kingdom ruled by the Qian family from Hangzhou and Shaoxing during the Ten Kingdoms interregnum following China's Tang dynasty.
Synonyms: word: Gusu
word: Helu City
word: Suzhou
sense: county
word: Wuxian
sense: county
word: Wuhsien
sense: county
word: Wu-hsien
sense: commandery
word: Wujun
sense: commandery
word: Wu-chun
sense: language family
word: Wu Chinese
sense: language family
word: Jiangnan
sense: language family
word: Wuyue
sense: language family
word: Jiangzhe
sense: Spring & Autumn Period realm
word: Gou Wu
sense: Spring & Autumn Period realm
word: Gouwu
sense: Spring & Autumn Period realm
word: Gong Wu
sense: Spring & Autumn Period realm
word: Gongwu
sense: Three Kingdoms realm
word: Dong Wu
sense: Three Kingdoms realm
word: Dongwu
sense: Three Kingdoms realm
word: Eastern Wu
sense: Three Kingdoms realm
word: Sun Wu
sense: Ten Kingdoms realm ruled from Yangzhou
word: Huainan
sense: Ten Kingdoms realm ruled from Yangzhou
word: Hongnong
sense: Ten Kingdoms realm ruled from Yangzhou
word: Southern Wu
sense: Ten Kingdoms realm ruled from Yangzhou
word: Yang Wu
sense: Ten Kingdoms realm ruled from Hangzhou
word: Wuyue
word: Woo
Related terms: word: Suzhounese
alt: SIL
urls: https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/wuu
word: wuu
word: wuu ⁠
word: Wiktionary’s coverage of Wu terms