ru

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ru"

Languages (21)

Translingual

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Afrikaans • Breton • Chuukese • Danish • French • Japanese • Kabyle • Malay • Mandarin • Mizo • Narua • Norwegian Nynorsk • Paraguayan Guarani • Sumerian • Talysh • Tarifit • Tarok • Vietnamese • West Makian • White Hmong

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Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

Most likely from clipping of English Russian or Russian ру́сский (rússkij)

Symbol

ru

1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Russian.

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch ruw, from Middle Dutch ruuch, ru, from Old Dutch *rūh, from Proto-Germanic *rūhwaz. See the Dutch entry for more.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

ru (attributive ruwe, comparative ruwer, superlative ruuste)

1. rough

   Synonym: rof

Breton

Adjective

ru

1. red

Chuukese

Numeral

ru

1. two

Related terms

• oruwen (“ordinal”)
• ruche
• rufoch
• rufou
• ruömön
• turu

Danish

Etymology

From Middle Low German ru(w), ruch, ruge. Related to rya, and maybe rokke.

Adjective

ru (neuter ru, plural and definite singular attributive ru)

1. rough, coarse

   Antonym: glat

2. raspy, hoarse

   Synonym: rusten

Derived terms

• ruhed
• ruhåret

See also

• blød
• rå

References

• “ru” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French ru, riu, from Vulgar Latin *rius, from Latin rīvus (“brook, small stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rih₂wós (from *h₃reyh₂- (“to flow; to move, set in motion”) +‎ *-wós).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁy/

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

ru m (plural rus)

1. (archaic) small stream

Related terms

• ruisseau

See also

• fleuve
• rivière

Further reading

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

Japanese

Romanization

ru

1. The hiragana syllable る (ru) or the katakana syllable ル (ru) in Hepburn romanization.

Kabyle

Root
r (crying)
1 term

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Berber.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ru/

Verb

ru (verbal noun turin)

1. to cry, to weep, to shed tears

References

• Association Culturelle Numidya (2025), “Amawal, dictionnaire kabyle-français en ligne”, in Amawal‎^[1], retrieved 2025
• Dallet, Jean-Marie (1982), Dictionnaire kabyle-français: parler des At Mangellat, Algérie (in French), Paris, France

Malay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ru/
• Rhymes: -ru, -u

Noun

ru (Jawi spelling رو, plural ru-ru or ru²)

1. alternative form of eru

Mandarin

Romanization

ru

1. nonstandard spelling of rú
2. nonstandard spelling of rǔ
3. nonstandard spelling of rù

Usage notes

• 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.

Mizo

Etymology 1

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *ruu.

Verb

ru (stem II rûk)

1. to steal

Derived terms

• hlêpru

Etymology 2

Adjective

ru

1. (of ingestible items) having a strong effect

Etymology 3

Noun

ru

1. any plant used to make fish poison for hunting

Further reading

• Lorrain, J. Herbert (1940), “ru”, in Dictionary of the Lushai language, Calcutta: Asiatic Society

Narua

Noun

ru

1. chicken

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Middle Low German.

Adjective

ru (masculine and feminine ru, neuter ru or rutt, definite singular and plural ru or rue, comparative ruare, indefinite superlative ruast, definite superlative ruaste)

1. uneven on the surface
2. raspy, hoarse

References

• “ru” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Ru, ur

Paraguayan Guarani

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -u

Noun

ru

1. father

References

• Canese, Natalia Krivoshein de; Alcaraz, Feliciano Acosta (2016), “ru”, in Ñe’ẽryru [Dictionary] (overall work in Spanish), Asunción: Instituto Superior de Lenguas, →ISBN, page 99, column 1

Sumerian

Romanization

ru

1. romanization of 𒊒 (ru)

Talysh

Etymology

Cognate with Persian رود (rud).

Noun

ru

1. river

Tarifit

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

ru (Tifinagh spelling ⵔⵓ)

1. (intransitive) to cry, to weep
2. (intransitive) to complain
3. (intransitive, figuratively) to secrete a liquid

Conjugation

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

• Causative: sru (“to make cry”)
• amentru (“beggar”)

Tarok

Etymology

Cognate to Mapeo dɔ́ɔ́ ("fall, fall downwards"), Owere dò ("fall (as rain)").

Verb

ru

1. to fall (downwards)

References

• R. Blench, The Benue-Congo languages

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [zu˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʐʊw˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ɹʊw˧˧]
• Homophone: du

Etymology 1

Cognate with Chut [Mày] kaɽu¹.

Verb

ru • (油)

1. to sing (a baby) to sleep

   hát ru ― to sing a lullaby

   • (Can we date this quote?), Văn Thành Nho, “Đất nước lời ru [Our Land, a Lullaby]”:

     Ru con, mẹ ru con,
     Tiếng ru cả cuộc đời.
     Ru con lời ru,
     Cất lên từ ngàn đời.

     Lull you, I lull you,
     With the song of a lifetime.
     Lull you, with a lullaby,
     Resonating with eternity.

Derived terms

• ru hời
• ru ngủ

Etymology 2

Part of the r-series of demonstratives, along with rày, ri, rứa, sao, and potentially also răng, rằng.

Particle

ru • (𠱋)

1. (literary, dated) final particle used for negation or to form rhetorical questions
   • 1819, 禮記大全節要演義 [Lễ kỳ đại toàn tiết yếu diễn nghĩa, Explanation of the Complete Essentials on the Book of Rites]‎^[2], page 60:

     翁獻公渃晋侯𣩂所世子𠸜羅申生。翁公子𠸜羅重耳保浪：「𤽗𫳵拯𠚢𪠞丕𠱋。」

     Ông Hiến công nước Tấn hầu giết thửa thế tử tên là Thân Sinh. Ông công tử tên là Trùng Nhĩ bảo rằng: "Ngươi sao chẳng ra đi vậy ru?"

     Duke Xian of the state of Jin was prepared to kill his heir son, named Shen Sheng. Another son, named Chong'er, said: "Why aren't you leaving?"

   Synonyms: sao, đâu, ư

See also

Vietnamese demonstratives

proximal (*-iː) distal 1 (*-iːʔ) distal 2 (*-əːʔ) distal 3/ remote (*-ɔːʔ) interrogative (rime was a rounded back vowel) place, attributive1 n- ni nì này/nầy nây ní nấy nớ nọ (nó) nào place, nominal2 đ- đây đấy (ấy) — đó đâu manner r- ri rày — rứa — ru sao3 extent 14 b- bây bấy — — bao extent 25 v- vầy vậy — — — 1 Originally can only follow a nominal (being used attributively), hence nơi này (“this place; here”), nơi nào (“where”) (no longer completely true in the modern language). 2 Can be used on its own/is itself nominal, hence đây (“here”), đâu (“where”). 3 From earlier *C-raːw (where *C is nonspecific consonant). 4 Placed before the head: bây nhiêu (“this much”), bấy nhiêu (“that much”), bao nhiêu (“how much”). 5 Placed after the head: nhanh vầy (“this fast”), nhanh vậy (“that fast/so fast”). visibility/evidentiality6 distal (ngang) remote (huyền) Northern-Southern kia (cơ) kìa (cờ) Central tê tề 6 Originally, these demonstratives might have been used to assert that something is visible and/or verifiable. They have been bleached quite thoroughly and currently are usually used like other distal demonstratives. The biggest trace of their evidentiality might be in their usage as final particles, often in reduced forms cơ/cờ: [t]ừ đấy về tới Hà Nội, còn những ba cái cầu nữa cơ mà! ("From there to Hanoi, there're still three more bridges to cross!") (Ba ngày luân lạc, 1943) and their (pretty much) obligatory use when locating an object: Không phải cái này mà là cái kia. ("Not this one, that one.")

West Makian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ru/

Noun

ru

1. neck

References

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982), The Makian languages and their neighbours‎^[3], Pacific linguistics

White Hmong

Etymology

From English roof ("roof").

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʈu˧/

Noun

ru

1. roof

References

• Ernest E. Heimbach, White Hmong - English Dictionary (1979, SEAP Publications)