Ryukyu

See also: Ryūkyū

English

Alternative forms

• Ryūkyū, Riukiu

Etymology

From Japanese 琉球 (Ryūkyū), from Middle Chinese 流求 (MC ljuw gjuw), a Chinese exonym for the island kingdom, of unclear origin. Doublet of Liuqiu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹjuːkjuː/, /ɹiˈuːkjuː/

Proper noun

Ryukyu

1. A chain of islands in Japan roughly between Kyushu and Taiwan.

   Synonym: the Ryukyus

   • 1888 April, H. T. Stainton, “Nepticula Serella, N. SP.”, in Entomologist's Monthly Magazine‎^[1], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 261:

     White Butterflies in Japan.[...]Shortly after this I left Yokohama for the Ryukyu Islands, and next had my attention attracted by the "White" in the Bay of Kagoshima.

   • 2015 May 29, “Volcano erupts on remote southern Japanese island”, in Deutsche Welle‎^[2], archived from the original on 23 October 2015, Japan‎^[3]:

     About 140 people live on Kuchinoerabu island in the Ryukyu archipelago, which is approximately 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of the main southern island of Kyushu.

Synonyms

• (from Mandarin Chinese) Liuqiu, Liuchiu

Translations

Ryūkyū, Japan

• Ainu: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 琉球 (zh) (Liúqiú), 琉球群島／琉球群岛 (zh) (Liúqiú qúndǎo), 琉球諸島／琉球诸岛 (Liúqiú zhūdǎo), 琉球列島／琉球列岛 (Liúqiú lièdǎo)

• Japanese: 琉球 (ja) (りゅうきゅう, Ryūkyū), 琉球諸島 (りゅうきゅうしょとう, Ryūkyū-shotō), 南西諸島 (ja) (なんせいしょとう, Nansei-shotō)
• Korean: 류큐 제도 (Ryukyu jedo)
• Manchu: ᠯᡳᠣ
  ᡴᡳᠣ (lio kio)
• Marathi: र्‍यूक्यू f (r‍yūkyū)
• Okinawan: 琉球 (るーちゅー, Rūchū, どぅーちゅー, Dūchū)
• Russian: Рюкю́ (ru) m (Rjukjú) (indeclinable)
• Vietnamese: Lưu Cầu

Further reading

• Ryukyu, Riukiu at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
• Saul B. Cohen, editor (1998), “Ryukyu Islands”, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World‎^[4], volume 3, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 2674, columns 1, 2: “Other forms of the name are Lu-chu, Loo-choo, Liu-kiu, and Riukiu.”