du - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

du

1. name

du

1. all

• Ross, M. & Næss, Å. (2007) “An Oceanic origin for Äiwoo, the language of the Reef Islands?”, in Oceanic Linguistics, volume 46, number 2. Cited in: "Äiwoo" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.

du

1. Dialectal form of dua

• IPA^(key): /du/

du

1. thou, you

du

1. a kind of bird

From Proto-Nuristani *dū, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dwáH, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdu/

du (Sanu)^[1]

1. two

• IPA^(key): [dúù]

du

1. household

• 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

• IPA^(key): /du/ [d̪u]
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: du

du

1. Third-person singular (hark), taking third-person singular (hura) as direct object, present indicative form of izan.

Linguistically, this verb form can be seen as belonging to the reconstructed citation form edun instead of izan.

Cognate with German du.

du

1. you (nominative, singular)

From Proto-Brythonic *duβ, from Proto-Celtic *dubus, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdyː/

du

1. black
2. swollen
3. starved

• dua

du m

1. black

g=m

du

1. third-person singular present indicative of duañ

g=m

• IPA^(key): [d̪u]

du (plural duwants)

1. yew

• halkaas mamushi
• meenis

Sadaf Munshi (2015) “Word Lists”, in Burushaski Language Documentation Project‎^[3].

du

1. inflection of dur:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

From Middle High German du, from Old High German dū, from Proto-West Germanic *þū, from Proto-Germanic *þū. Cognate with German du, archaic English thou (modern dialectal tha).

du

1. (Luserna, Sette Comuni) you (thou, singular familiar)

   Bobrall du geast, gedenkhte ber du pist. ― Wherever you go, remember who you are.

Sette Comuni:

Luserna:

• “du” in Martalar, Umberto Martello, Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo
• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

From Proto-Brythonic *duβ, from Proto-Celtic *dubus, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-.

• (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA^(key): [dyː]
• (Revived Late Cornish) IPA^(key): [diˑʊ]

du

1. black

From Old Danish thu, from Old Norse þú, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂ (“you”). Cognate with English thou, Latin tū, Sanskrit त्वम् (tvam), Avestan 𐬙𐬏𐬨 (tūm), Russian ты (ty).

• IPA^(key): [ˈd̥u], [d̥u]

du (objective dig)

1. thou, you (2nd person singular subject pronoun, informal)

From Old Danish dughæ, from Old Norse duga, from Proto-Germanic *duganą (“to be useful”), cognate with Swedish duga, German taugen, Gothic 𐌳𐌿𐌲𐌰𐌽 (dugan).

• IPA^(key): [ˈd̥uːˀ]

du (imperative du, present dur or duer, past duede, past participle duet)

1. be good
2. be fit

du

1. interrogative particle (placed at the end of the sentence to make a question)

• dou (obsolete, Holland)

From Middle Dutch du, from Old Dutch thū, from Proto-West Germanic *þū, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

• IPA^(key): /dy/
• Hyphenation: du
• Rhymes: -y

du

1. (obsolete or dialectal) Second-person singular informal pronoun; thou

   • 1620, Jacob Cats, Velt-teycken, alle eerbare jonge lieden toegeeygent:

     Sy roept, du bist een slaef, in mijne dienst gebonden

     She calls, thou art a slave, bound to my service

   • 1625, Joost van den Vondel, Wiech-liedt:

     Soo leyt dyn memmetje dy in dyn wiechje te rust.

     So thy mama lays thee to rest in thy cradle.

• Du was already falling out of general use in early modern Dutch. It was still relatively common in the oblique cases, in vocatives or close to vocative appositions and when indicating contempt.
• The corresponding verbal ending was -st. The present form of zijn was bist, for hebben the present forms hebst and hest were in use. When the nominative directly followed the verb, contraction usually occurred: -stu; bistu, hebstu.

• Nominative: du, dou, douw
• Oblique: dij, dy
• Possessive: dijn, dyn

From Old Norse þú, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂. Cognate with Swedish du.

du

1. you (singular), thou

From Latin duo, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

• IPA^(key): /du/

du

1. two (2)

• duo
• dupunkto (“colon”)

• do (Mañegu)

From Old Galician-Portuguese do, equivalent to de (“of”) +‎ u (masculine singular definite article).

du m sg (plural dus, feminine da, feminine plural das)

1. (Lagarteiru, Valverdeñu) of the

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021) Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎^[4], 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN

Inherited from Old French del. The expected modern form would be *deau, but it underwent stronger contraction. Akin to Galician do, Portuguese do, Sicilian dû, Italian and Spanish del.

• IPA^(key): /dy/
• (Quebec) IPA^(key): [d͡zy], [d͡zʏ]
• Homophones: dû, due, dues, dus, dût

du

1. Contraction of de + le (“of the”)

   « Eussent » est la troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait du subjonctif de « avoir ».

   "Eussent" is the third-person plural imperfect subjunctive [form] of "avoir."

   • 1802, Charles Brillat, Pierre Bazaine, Métrologie française, page 249:

     Le bouge donne 9 [neuf] litres plus que le point qui correspond à celui du diamètre des fonds indiqué par la jauge […]

     The bulge gives 9 [nine] liters more than the point which corresponds to that of the diameter of the base indicated by the gauge […]

• Only used before nouns (or nominalized forms of other parts of speech, most often adjectives) that begin with consonants; before vowel-initial words, the form de l’ is used, e.g., as seen above, de l'imparfait.

• duquel

du m sg (feminine singular de la, plural des)

1. Forms the partitive article.

   Il mange du pain. ― He eats bread. / He eats some bread.

• The partitive article is used with uncountable nouns instead of the indefinite article (which is only used with countable nouns). English and most other European languages do not use any article in such cases.
• Like the indefinite article, the partitive article becomes simple de with grammatical objects in negated sentences: Il ne mange pas de pain. (“He doesn't eat bread.”)
• After the actual preposition de (“of, from”), the partitive article is deleted. So one can never say *de du or *de de la.

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

du

1. man

• Gaikundi-Ontena Organised Phonology Data (2011)

• Du

From Middle High German du, duo, dū, from Old High German dū (akin to Old Saxon thū and English thou), itself from Proto-West Germanic *þū, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

• (stressed) IPA^(key): /duː/

• Rhymes: -uː

• (unstressed, standard) IPA^(key): /du/
• (unstressed, colloquial) IPA^(key): /də/
• After the second person singular verb ending -st, the /d/ is generally lost when the pronoun is unstressed. Thus hast du is pronounced [ˈhast‿u] even in purposefully enunciated speech.
• In colloquial speech, chiefly of northern and central Germany, the /d/ can be lost after any preceding coronal. Thus wenn du may be pronounced [ˈvɛn‿u] or [ˈvɛn‿ə].

du

1. you (singular familiar), thou

• Du is the informal second person pronoun. In formal speech, the third person plural Sie (always capitalised) is used instead.
• A general rule of thumb is that du is used to address one's friends, relatives, and those under about 16 years of age. Du is always used to address children and non-human beings.
• Usage also depends on the setting: two unacquainted, middle-aged persons are likely to use du when they meet at social gatherings, but much less so when they happen on each other in the street. People under 30 often use du among each other, but they still use Sie when one of them is at work, e.g. in a shop (some cafés and most pubs are an exception).
• There is also a great deal of (often subtle) regional variation throughout the German-speaking world.

• duzen
• Du n

• “du” in Duden online
• “du” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

du

1. Romanization of 𐌳𐌿

• ɖù (Benin)

From Proto-Gbe *ɖu. Cognates include Fon ɖù, Saxwe Gbe ɖù, Adja ɖù, Ewe ɖu

• IPA^(key): /ɖù/

dù (Nigeria)

1. to eat
2. to bite

   Àgọ̀sú hò àvún dàhó dé bọ̀ àvún wá dù ví étọ̀n ― Agosu bought a certain big dog and the dog eventually bit his child

3. to win

• tuu (Wiesemann spelling)

From Middle High German and Old High German dū (akin to Old Saxon thū and English thou), itself from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

• IPA^(key): /tuː/, /tə/

du

1. thou, you

   Du bist aarich scheen.

   You are so beautiful.

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

From Esperanto du, from French deux, Spanish dos, Italian due, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

du

1. two (2)

Derived from English do.

• IPA^(key): /du/

du

1. to do

   Shi aks im fi du sitn fi ar.

   She asked him to do something for her.

   Singin muotaim du ina gruup a ada myuuzishan

   Singing is often done in a group of other musicians

   • 2012, Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, Edinburgh: DJB, published 2012, →ISBN, Filipiyan 4:13:

     Mi kyan du eniting, kaaz Krais Jiizas gi mi di powa fi du it.

     I can do all things through Christ, because he gives me strength [to do it].

• du at majstro.com

du

1. The katakana syllable ドゥ (du) in Hepburn-like romanization.

From Sanskrit द्व (dva), from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Compare Hindi दो (do), Bhojpuri दू (dū), Konkani दोन (don).

du

1. two (2)

From Proto-Baltic *d(u)u̯ō, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Compare Latvian divi. Cognate to Latin duo.

• IPA^(key): [d̪ʊ]

dù m (feminine dvì)

1. two (2)

From Proto-Slavic *jьdǫ (first-person singular) and *jьdǫtь (third-person plural), inflected forms of *jьti.

• IPA^(key): /du/

du

1. inflection of hyś:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. third-person plural present

• (first-person singular): źom

From Proto-Germanic *þū.

• IPA^(key): /du/, [du(ː)]

du

1. second-person singular, informal, nominative: you, thou

   Wéi al bass du? ― How old are you?

du

1. Nonstandard spelling of dū.
2. Nonstandard spelling of dú.
3. Nonstandard spelling of dǔ.
4. Nonstandard spelling of dù.

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

From Old Dutch thū, from Proto-West Germanic *þū, from Proto-Germanic *þū.

• IPA^(key): /dyː/, /dy/
• (Limburg) IPA^(key): /duː/, /du/

du

1. thou, you (singular, informal)

   Synonym: gi

This pronoun began to be replaced by gi in formal address during the Middle Dutch period, and eventually fell out of use altogether.

• Dutch: (obsolete) du, dou, douw
• Limburgish: doe

• “du”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “du”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

du

1. Alternative form of dewe (“due”)

Inherited from Old High German dū, from Proto-West Germanic *þū, from Proto-Germanic *þū, whence also Old English þū, Old Norse þú, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

du or dû

1. (personal) you (thou, singular familiar)

• Alemannic German: du

  Swabian: dau, d

• Bavarian:

  Cimbrian: du

  Mòcheno: du

• Central Franconian: du, dou

  Hunsrik: du

  Kölsch: do

• German: du
• Luxembourgish: du
• Rhine Franconian:

  Palatine German: du

  Pennsylvania German: du

• Yiddish: דו (du)

From Old Saxon thū, from Proto-Germanic *þū.

• IPA^(key): /duː/

dû

1. thou, you (second person singular nominative)

• du

From Middle High German du, from Old High German dū, from Proto-West Germanic *þū, from Proto-Germanic *þū. Cognate with German du, archaic English thou (modern dialectal tha).

du

1. you (thou, singular familiar)

• “du” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdu/

du

1. (intransitive) to sink

• kadu

From Latin dux, ducem.

du m

1. duke

• duchie

• düünj (Mooring)

From Old Frisian dwā, from Proto-Germanic *dōną. Cognates include West Frisian dwaan, English do.

du

1. (Föhr-Amrum) to do
2. (Föhr-Amrum) to give

From Proto-Iranian *dwáH (compare Persian دو (do), Pashto دوه (dwa), Avestan 𐬛𐬎𐬎𐬀 (duua)), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dwáH (compare Sanskrit द्व (dvá), Marathi दोन (don), Hindi दो (do)/Urdu دو (do), Punjabi ਦੋ (do)), from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (compare Russian два (dva), Lithuanian du, Greek δύο (dýo), Spanish dos, English two).

du

1. two (2)

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈtuː/

dū

1. accusative/genitive of don

From Old Norse þú (“you”), from Proto-Germanic *þū (“you”), from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂ (“you”).

• IPA^(key): /dʉː/, [dÿː]

du (objective case deg)

1. thou, you (second person, singular)

• due (“to say 'you' to someone”)

du

1. imperative of due

• “du” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old Norse þú, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂. Akin to English thou.

• IPA^(key): /dʉː/

du (objective case deg)

1. you, thou (second person, singular)

• “du” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /dū/

du

1. to boil

   Musa dàdà á nakàn du ― Musa quickly boiled the meat

2. to brew

• IPA^(key): /dù/

dù

1. (of rain) to fall

   Ele è dù à ― It's not raining (literally, “Rain is not falling”)

• IPA^(key): /dū/

du

1. to shake

du

1. bird

Bill Palmer, The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area (→ISBN, 2017), page 531, table 95, Comparative basic vocabulary in Lakes Plain Languages

• del

du

1. contraction of de + le (of the)

• thū, ᛞᚢ (du)

From Proto-West Germanic *þū, from Proto-Germanic *þū, whence also Old English þū, Old Norse þú, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂. Perhaps the earliest attestation of the pronoun is the inscription on the Bülach fibula, which may show ᛞᚢ (du) already differentiated from other Germanic languages’ þu.

• IPA^(key): /duː/

dū

1. thou, you (second-person singular pronoun)
   • 6th-7th century, inscription on the Bülach fibula:

     ᚠᚱᛁᚠᚱᛁᛞᛁᛚ / ᛞᚢ / ...
     frifridil / du / […]

     frifridil / du / ...
     frifridil / du / […]

     [my] beloved, you / […]

Some speakers of Old High German appear to have contrasted the "polite" singular (plural forms) with the regular, informal singular (singular forms), as in New High German (Modern German) Sie versus du. This distinction is however not well-attested, and may have been regional, genre-dependent, or only in Late Old High German.

• Middle High German: du
  • Alemannic German: du

    Swabian: dau, d

  • Bavarian:

    Cimbrian: du

    Mòcheno: du

  • Central Franconian: du, dou

    Hunsrik: du

    Kölsch: do

  • German: du
  • Luxembourgish: du
  • Rhine Franconian:

    Palatine German: du

    Pennsylvania German: du

  • Yiddish: דו (du)

• Heinz Klingenberg, Runenfibel von Bülach, Kanton Zürich. Liebesinschrift aus alemannischer Frühzeit, in the Alemannisches Jahrbuch (1973/75), page 308
• Heinz Klingenberg, Die Runeninschrift aus Bülach, in Helvetia archaeologica, volume 7 (1976), pages 116–121
• Stephan Opitz, Südgermanische Runeninschriften im älteren Futhark aus der Merowingerzeit (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1977)

du

1. Alternative form of do

Compare German du, English thou, Swedish du.

du

1. you, thou

• IPA^(key): /tu/

du

1. those

• Joshua Wilbur (2014) A grammar of Pite Saami, Berlin: Language Science Press

du (oblique die)

1. you (singular)

From Latin dŭo (“two”).

• (Central Romagnol): IPA^(key): [ˈduː]

• (Ville Unite):

du (feminine dó)

1. two

• Masotti, Adelmo (1996) Vocabolario Romagnolo Italiano [Romagnol-Italian dictionary] (in Italian), Bologna: Zanichelli, pages 189, 194

• IPA^(key): [du]

du

1. second-person singular imperative of duce

From Old Frisian thū, from Proto-West Germanic *þū.

• IPA^(key): /du/
• Hyphenation: du
• Rhymes: -u

du (oblique die)

1. thou, you

• du is at times omitted when used with a verb.

• Marron C. Fort (2015) “du”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN

du (objective case dee, vocative dee, possessive determiner dines)

1. Northern Isles form of thou (“thou”)

“du” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.

From English do.

du

1. to do

du

1. deed, action

Probably from Ewe ɖú (“dance”), Fon ɖùwè (“dance”).^[1]

du

1. (archaic) dance performance

du

1. Romanization of 𒁺 (du)

• dhu, thu, tu, tv (obsolete)

From Old Swedish þū, from Old Norse þú, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

• IPA^(key): /dʉː/, [d̪ʉː], (unstressed) /dɵ/
• Rhymes: -ʉː

du

1. you (subjective case, singular)

   Nisse, du är en liten groda

   Nisse, you are a small frog

   • 1981, X Models (lyrics and music), “Två av oss [Two of us]”‎^[5]:

     Det finns bara en av mig och det är jag. Det finns bara en av dig och det är du. Det finns bara två av oss, och det är vi.

     There is only one of me and that is I. There is only one of you [object] and that is you [subject]. There are only two of us, and that is us [we – subject]. [Swedish has some of the same subject/object fuzziness as English, but a standalone "Det är <pronoun>" idiomatically (through intuition rather than being taught) uses the subject form]

2. thou

   • 1649, Jacobus Petri Chronander, Bele-Snack, Eller Een Ny Comœdia, act I, scene IV, page 40:

     TV Konstrijke Mästare, godt rådh giff,
     Skall man nu skona thenna skelmens lijff?

     THOU artful Master, good counsel give,
     Should one now spare this scoundrel's life?

While du is the traditionally familiar mode of address, it is since the early '70s the standard in almost all circumstances, possibly capitalized in formal communications. This was the result of the so-called du-reformen.

Recently, use of the second-person plural pronoun ni as a less familiar (and thus more formal) pronoun has appeared to some extent, but mainly amongst shopkeepers towards customers.

The same pronoun ni has also been used historically as a formal way of address, but its use has (in particular in Sweden, not so much in Swedish-speaking parts of Finland) been restricted to addressing people of lower social status, whereby a plethora of different constructions were employed as to avoid the issue of pronouns whatsoever. See also the article about T-V distinction in Wikipedia.

• dua
• duskål

• du in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• du in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• du in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• UD

du

1. his/her

• hú

From Proto-Nuristani *dū, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dwáH, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdu/

du (Gambir)^[1]

1. two

Compare Italian due

du m

1. two

• dó

Both characters below depict a single etymology. 遊 (MC yuw) also has a less common reading do, now seen only in do thám.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [zu˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [jʊw˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [jʊw˧˧]

du

1. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 遊
2. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 游

From Proto-Brythonic *duβ, from Proto-Celtic *dubus, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-.

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /dɨː/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /diː/
• Homophone: dŷ; (South Wales) di
• Rhymes: -ɨː

du (feminine singular du, plural duon, equative dued, comparative duach, superlative duaf)

1. black

   Mae ganddo fo fwstash du.

   He has a black mustache

• du a gwyn (“black and white; piebald”)
• twll du (“black hole”)
• tyngu'r du yn wyn (“to swear black is white”)

• düwch

• IPA^(key): /du˧/

du

1. smooth

• IPA^(key): /dù/

dù

1. to scramble for, to compete

   wọ́n du oúnjẹ ― They scrambled for food

• du before a direct object

• ìdu
• ìjàdù (“scramble; struggle”)

• IPA^(key): /dū/

du

1. (Lagos, intransitive) to run, to sprint

   Synonym: sá

• ìdu

• IPA^(key): /dú/

dú

1. (intransitive, of a person or animal) to bleed

   Synonyms: dújẹ̀, ṣẹ̀jẹ̀

• ìdú (“the act of bleeding”)

Cognate with Igala dú

• IPA^(key): /dú/

dú

1. to be black, to be dark

   Antonym: fun

   ó dú láwọ̀ ― Her skin is dark