cú

See also: Appendix:Variations of "cu"

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuː/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish cú (“dog, hound”), from Proto-Celtic *kū (compare Welsh ci), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (“dog”).

Noun

cú m or f (genitive singular cú or con, nominative plural cúnna or coin)

1. hound, greyhound

   Nuair a chonaic Séadanta an cú ag teacht chuige, bhuail sé an crag leis an oiread sin nirt go ndeachaigh sé síos i mbéal an chon, agus trína chorp.

   When Sétanta saw the hound coming at him, he hit the ball with so much force that it went into the hound's mouth and through its body.[1]

2. (figuratively) hero, champion

Declension

Regular

Declension of cú (fourth declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative cú cúnna vocative a chú a chúnna genitive cú cúnna dative cú cúnna forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an cú na cúnna genitive an chú na gcúnna dative leis an gcú don chú leis na cúnna

Irregular

Declension of cú (irregular)

bare forms case singular plural nominative cú coin vocative a chú a choin genitive con con dative cú coin (archaic, dialectal) coin forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an cú na coin genitive an chon na gcon dative leis an gcú leis an gcoin (archaic, dialectal) don chú don choin (archaic, dialectal) leis na coin

Derived terms

• broc-chú
• caor chon (“dogberry”)
• cú allaidh
• cú allta (“wolf”)
• cú cosanta (“watch-dog”)
• cú dobhráin (“otter”)
• cú faoil
• cú fola (“bloodhound”)
• cú rúiseach (“borzoi”)
• cú seilge (“hunting dog”)
• cuachma chon (“dog-whelk”)
• dobharchú
• faolchú
• fiacail chú (“dog's-tooth”)
• sailchuach chon (“dog violet”)
• teanga chon (“hound's-tongue”)
• torc-chú (“boar-hound”)

 

Etymology 2

Noun

cú

1. The name of the Latin-script letter q/Q.

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) litir; á, bé, cé, dé, é, eif, gé, héis, í, jé, cá, eil, eim, ein, ó, pé, cú, ear, eas, té, ú, vé, wae, ex, yé, zae
• Note: The English names are also widely used by Irish speakers.

Mutation

Mutated forms of cú

radical	lenition	eclipsis
cú	chú	gcú

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

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “cú”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “cú”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 204
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “cú”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “cú”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

Mandarin

Alternative forms

• cu — nonstandard

Romanization

cú (cu², Zhuyin ㄘㄨˊ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 徂
2. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 殂
3. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 豠

Middle Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish cú, from Primitive Irish ᚉᚒᚅᚐ (cuna, genitive), from Proto-Celtic *kū (compare Welsh ci), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuː/

Noun

cú m (genitive con, nominative plural coin)

1. dog, hound
   • c. 1000, “The Tale of Mac Da Thó's Pig”, in Ernst Windisch, editor, Irische Texte, volume 1, published 1800, section 1:

     Bui cu oca, no ditned in cu Lagniu uile. Ailbe ainm in chon, ocus lan hEriu dia aurdarcus.

     He had a dog; the dog protected all Leinster. Ailbhe was the name of the dog, and all Ireland was full of his fame.

Declension

• Genitive singular: con

Descendants

• Irish: cú
• Manx: coo
• Scottish Gaelic: cù

Mutation

Mutation of cú

radical	lenition	nasalization
cú	chú	cú pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/

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

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 cú”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Old Irish

Etymology

From Primitive Irish ᚉᚒᚅᚐ (cuna, genitive), from Proto-Celtic *kū (compare Welsh ci), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuː/

Noun

cú m (genitive con, nominative plural coin)

1. dog, hound
2. wolf

   Synonym: macc tíre

Usage notes

• The nominative singular cú irregularly causes lenition when used to create male given names, such as Cú Chulainn.

Declension

Masculine n-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	cú	coinL	coin
Vocative	cú	coinL	conaH
Accusative	coinN	coinL	conaH
Genitive	con	conL	conN
Dative	coinL, cúL	conaib	conaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Derived terms

• conamail
• cúán
• Cú Chulainn
• doburchú

Descendants

• Middle Irish: cú
  • Irish: cú
  • Manx: coo
  • Scottish Gaelic: cù

Mutation

Mutation of cú

radical	lenition	nasalization
cú	chú	cú pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/

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

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 cú”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: cú

Noun

cú m

1. Misspelling of cu.

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ku˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kʊw˨˩˦]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [kʊw˦˥]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Proto-Vietic *kuːʔ, of imitative origin. Compare Proto-Tai *ɡawꟲ (“owl”) (whence Thai เค้า (káo), Lao ເຄົ້າ (khao)), Chinese 鵂 (OC *qʰ(r)u), 鴞 (OC *[ɢ]ʷ(r)aw) (B-S).

Noun

(classifier con) cú • (鴝, 𫚱)

1. an owl (bird)

See also

• hù; dù dì

Derived terms

• cú đêm
• cú lợn
• cú mèo
• cú muỗi
• cú vọ
• hôi như cú

 

Interjection

cú • (鴝, 𫚱)

1. (onomatopoeia) hoot

Etymology 2

Verb

cú

1. to knuckle one's head

   Synonyms: kí, cốc

Etymology 3

Classifier

cú

1. Used for a (usually quick) action.

   một cú điện thoại ― a phonecall

Anagrams

• Úc