mu

See also: Appendix:Variations of "mu"

English

Ancient Greek Alphabet
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lambda
 →
nu
Μ μ
Ancient Greek: μῦ
Wikipedia article on mu

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek μῦ (mû).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /muː/, /mjuː/
    • Homophone: moo (first pronunciation only)
    • Homophone: mew (second pronunciation only)
  • (US) IPA(key): /mjuː/
    • Audio (US)(file)
    • Homophone: mew

Noun

mu (countable and uncountable, plural mus)

  1. The 12th letter of the Modern Greek alphabet.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Japanese 無 (mu, “nothing, neither yes nor no”)

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /muː/
  • (US) IPA(key): /mjuː/, /muː/
    • Audio (US)(file)
    • Homophone: mew (first pronunciation only)
    • Homophone: moo (second pronunciation only)

Interjection

mu

  1. (Zen Buddhism) Neither yes nor no.
    • 1974, Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:
      Mu means "no thing." Like "Quality" it points outside the process of dualistic discrimination. Mu simply says, "No class; not one, not zero, not yes, not no." [...] It's a great mistake, a kind of dishonesty, to sweep nature's mu answers under the carpet.
    • 1979, Douglas Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid:
      Achilles: Oh, but MU is Jōshū’s answer. By saying MU, Jōshū let the other monk know that only by not asking such questions can one know the answer to them.
      Tortoise: Jōshū “unasked” the question. […]
      Achilles: […] And the answer of “MU” here rejects the premises of the question, which are that one or the other must be chosen.
    • 1996, Dan Simmons, "Looking for Kelly Dahl", The Year's Best Science Fiction, page 424:
      "Mu," said Kelly Dahl.
      On one level mu means only yes, but on a deeper level of Zen it was often used by the master when the acolyte asked a stupid, unanswerable or wrongheaded question such as "Does a dog have the Buddha-nature?" The Master would answer only, "Mu," meaning—I say "yes" but mean "no," but the actual answer is: Unask the question.
    • 2002, Norman Waddell and Masao Abe, The Heart of Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō, page 72:
      The Fifth Patriarch's utterance You say mu [Buddha-nature] because Buddha-nature is emptiness articulates clearly and distinctly the truth that emptiness is not "no". In uttering Buddha-nature-emptiness one does not say "half a pound." One does not say "eight ounces." One says "mu."
    • 2010, Joan Price, Sacred Scriptures of the World Religions, page 70:
      A monk once asked Master Joshu, 'Has a dog the Buddha Nature or not?' Joshu said, 'Mu!'

Noun

mu (uncountable)

  1. (Zen Buddhism) Nothingness; nonexistence; the illusory nature of reality.
    • 2012, Omori, Introduction To Zen Training, →ISBN, page 115:
      That being the case, we should naturally choose to contemplate mu from morning to night, forgetting everything.
    • 2012, Dr Robert Wilkinson, Nishida and Western Philosophy, →ISBN:
      Consequently, though mu is mindlike, the likeness to individual consciousness cannot be pushed very far.
    • 2013, Sean Murphy & ‎Natalie Goldberg, One Bird, One Stone: 108 Contemporary Zen Stories, →ISBN, page xvii:
      The monk posed to Chaoi-chou a question: Does a dog have a buddha nature or not?" Chao-chou, without a moment's hesitation, answered, “Mu." (Translated as "No.")
    • 2013, Maura O'Halloran, Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind, →ISBN:
      If mu is mind, consciousness, it is nothing.

Usage notes

Used to answer a question that if answered with "yes" or "no" would imply something false.

Etymology 3

From Mandarin 畝／亩 (mǔ)

Noun

mu (plural mu)

  1. A unit of surface area, currently equivalent to 666 and 2/3 meters squared.
    • 2007 — Chang Liu, “Peasants and Revolution in Rural China: Rural Political Change in the North China Plain and the Yangzi Delta, 1850-1949”, page 87
      Of 114 village farming families, only ten had more than 30 mu of land and only five had more than 60 mu.

Anagrams

Asturian

Interjection

mu

  1. moo (sound made by a cow or bull)

Czech

Pronunciation

  • Audio(file)

Pronoun

mu

  1. Singular dative masculine of on
    Řekni mu, že jím. - Tell him, I am eating.

Synonyms

Extremaduran

Adverb

mu

  1. very

See also

  • muchu

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /my/

Noun

mu m (plural mu)

  1. mu (Greek letter)

Further reading

Hanga Hundi

Noun

mu

  1. (a) crocodile

Further reading

Ikobi-Mena

Noun

mu (Mena), mụ (Ikobi)

  1. water

References

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay mu, shortened form of kamu, from Proto-Malayic *kamu(ʔ), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *(i-)kamu, *kamiu, from Proto-Austronesian *(i-)kamu, *kamiu.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

mu

  1. you

Italian

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -u

Noun

mu m, f (invariable)

  1. The name of the letter M

Japanese

Romanization

mu

  1. Rōmaji transcription of む
  2. Rōmaji transcription of ム

Jurchen

Noun

mu (transliteration needed)

  1. water

References

  • Gisaburō Norikura Kiyose, A Study of the Jurchen Language and Script: Reconstruction and Decipherment (1977)

Kituba

Pronoun

mu

  1. I

Kom (Cameroon)

Etymology 1

Noun

mu

  1. water

Etymology 2

Adjective

mu

  1. old

References

  • Randy Jones, Provisional Kom - English lexicon (2001, Yaoundé, Cameroon)

Malay

Etymology

Shortened form of kamu, from Proto-Malayic *kamu(ʔ), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *(i-)kamu, *kamiu, from Proto-Austronesian *(i-)kamu, *kamiu.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mu/
  • Rhymes: -mu, -u

Pronoun

mu

  1. you

See also

Mandarin

Romanization

mu

  1. Nonstandard spelling of mú.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of mǔ.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of mù.

Usage notes

  • English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

  • (Kautokeino) IPA(key): /ˈmuː/

Pronoun

mū

  1. accusative and genitive of mun

Polish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mu/

Pronoun

mu

  1. Dative singular mute form of on.

See also

  • Appendix:Polish pronouns

Portuguese

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -u

Etymology 1

Latin mūlus (“mule”)

Noun

mu m (plural mus)

  1. mule
Synonyms

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic.

Alternative forms

Interjection

mu

  1. moo (the call of a cow)

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish imb (compare Irish um), from Proto-Celtic *ambi (compare Welsh am), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰi (“round about, around”). Cognate with Latin ambi-, Sanskrit अभि (abhí, “towards, over, upon”), Old Persian 𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎹 (abiy, “towards, against, upon”), Old High German umbi, Ancient Greek ἀμφί (amphí, “about, around”) and the first part of Old Armenian ամբ-ողջ (amb-ołǰ, “whole”).

Preposition

mu

  1. about, around
    Bha craobhan mu ghàrradh an taighe. ― There were trees around the house's yard.
  2. about, concerning
    Bha sinn a' bruidhinn mu làithean san sgoil againn. ― We were talking about our days at school.
  3. about, approximately
    Bidh a' chuairt a' toirt mu thrì uairean. ― The trip will take about three hours.

Usage notes

Derived terms

  • The following prepositional pronouns:
Person Number Prepositional pronoun Prepositional pronoun (emphatic)
Singular 1st umam umamsa
2nd umad umadsa
3rd m uime uimesan
3rd f uimpe uimpese
Plural 1st umainn umainne
2nd umaibh umaibhse
3rd umpa umpasan

Serbo-Croatian

Pronoun

mu (Cyrillic spelling му)

  1. to him (clitic dative singular of ȏn (“he”))
  2. to it (clitic dative singular of òno (“it”))

Declension

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -u

Noun

mu f (plural múes)

  1. mu; the Greek letter Μ, μ
  2. moo (sound of a cow)

Synonyms

Swedish

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ʉː

Interjection

mu

  1. moo

Noun

mu n

  1. moo; the sound of a cow or a bull

See also

  • råma

Turkish

Particle

mu

  1. Used to form interrogatives.
    Ona bu soruyu sordun mu?
    Did you ask him/her this question?
    Mutlu musun?
    Are you happy?
    Pikniğe gitmiyor muyuz?
    Aren't we going for a picnic?

Usage notes

  • Personal suffixes are added to the interrogative particles, as well as the past tense suffixes.
  • This form is used when the last vowel of the previous word is "o" or "u". Other forms used with different vowels are: mı?, mi? and mü?

Tzotzil

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Adjective

mu

  1. delicious

Etymology 2

Particle

mu

  1. (negation) not
    Mu jna'. - I do not know him/her/it.
Synonyms
  • muk'
Derived terms

(particles)

  • mu'yuk

References

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

Noun

mu

  1. pubes

Volapük

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish muy (“very”).

Adverb

mu

  1. extremely
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