ou

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "ou"
Languages (30)
English
Afrikaans • Aneme Wake • Aromanian • Bonggi • Catalan • Estonian • Franco-Provençal • French • Galician • Haitian Creole • Hawaiian • Italian • Jamaican Creole • Japanese • Mandarin • Mauritian Creole • Megleno-Romanian • Middle English • Middle French • Norman • Old French • Portuguese • Romanian • Sardinian • Saterland Frisian • Sicilian • Suena • Tongan • Zia
Page categories

English

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Etymology 1

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From Hawaiian ʻōʻū.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ou (plural ous)

  1. A probably extinct species of Hawaiian honeycreeper, Psittirostra psittacea.
Translations
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Further reading
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Etymology 2

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From Afrikaans ou, probably from Dutch ouwe (“old man”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ou (plural ous or ouens)

  1. (South Africa, colloquial) A fellow, guy, bloke. [from 20th c.]
    • 1962, Jeremy Taylor (lyrics and music), “Ag Pleez Deddy”:
      Ag pleez Deddy won't you take us to the wrestling
      We wanna see an ou called Sky High Lee
    • 1975, Sheila Roberts, Outside Life's Feast: Short Stories, Johannesburg: Ad. Donker, →ISBN, page 27:
      I couldn't care that the ous call me rooinek and sometimes whiterat because of my hair and face. At least I am not a hairyback I tell them.
    • 1978, André Brink, Rumours of Rain, Vintage, published 2000, page 292:
      “They're the same good and solid ous they'd been before. Because they managed not to think.”

Anagrams

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Afrikaans

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Probably from ouwe, from Dutch oude

Noun

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ou (plural ouens, diminutive outjie)

  1. an old fellow, guy, bloke
    Synonym: kêrel

Etymology 2

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From Dutch ouwe.

Adjective

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ou

  1. attributive form of oud

Aneme Wake

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Noun

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ou

  1. cloud

Aromanian

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Classical Latin ōvum, possibly via Vulgar Latin (*)ŏvum. Compare Romanian ou.

Noun

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ou n (plural oauã, definite singular oulu, definite plural oauãli)

  1. egg
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Verb based on etymology 1.

Verb

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ou first-singular present indicative (past participle uoatã)

  1. Alternative form of oauã to lay an egg (like a hen)
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Bonggi

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Pronoun

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ou

  1. I

References

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Catalan

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Vulgar Latin (*)ŏvum, from Classical Latin ōvum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ou m (plural ous)

  1. egg
  2. (colloquial) ball, testicle

References

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Etymology 2

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Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

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Interjection

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ou

  1. (Mallorca, Menorca) whoa! (command to an animal to stop)

Etymology 3

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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ou

  1. (Valencia, Northern Calatan) inflection of oir:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Estonian

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Etymology

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

Interjection

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ou

  1. (colloquial) oi!, hey!, used for calling out to someone

Franco-Provençal

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin aut.

Conjunction

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ou (ORB, broad)

  1. or

References

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  • ou in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
  • ou in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French ou, from Latin aut.[1]

Pronunciation

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Conjunction

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ou

  1. or
    • 2011, Christian Depover, Thierry Karsenti, Enseigner avec les technologies: Favoriser les apprentissages, développer des compétences, PUQ, →ISBN:
      La baladodiffusion est ainsi utilisée comme outil à potentiel cognitif, parce qu’elle permet, relativement facilement, de diffuser un contenu audio ou vidéo qui peut, par la suite, être écouté ou vu à tout moment par l’apprenant.
      Therefore, podcasting is used as a tool for cognitive potential, because it allows for the relatively easy distribution of audio or video content, which, as a result, can be listened to or watched at any moment by the learner.
  2. either...or
    Ou il est fou ou il est bête.
    Either he's mad or he's stupid.

Derived terms

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline with Jean-Claude Rolland (2009) “ou”, in Dictionnaire étymologique du français (in French), Paris: Dictionnaires Le Robert

Further reading

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Galician

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Etymology 1

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From Old Galician-Portuguese ou, from Latin aut.

Pronunciation

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Conjunction

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ou

  1. or

Etymology 2

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Pronunciation

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Interjection

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ou!

  1. whoa! (order for cattle)
    Synonym: xo
  2. oh! (vocative)
    • 1775, María Francisca Isla y Losada, Romance:
      Ôu mèu Crego? Seica qués,
      que eu vote a lengoa â pastàr?
      Catao ben, e despois non
      che pese, ò que ágora fás.
      Se contra toda concencia
      pensache de min tàn màl,
      e estou quixòsa, ¿por que
      non me has ti de aloumiñar?
      Oh, my clergyman? Perchance you want
      that I let my tongue free range?
      Watch it carefully, or either don't you later
      regret what you do now.
      If against all conscience
      You thought so badly of me
      And I'm cranky, why
      wouldn't you cherish me?

References

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Haitian Creole

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Etymology

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Possibly from French vous (“you”)

Pronunciation

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  1. IPA(key): /u/

Letter

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ou (upper case Ou)

  1. A letter of the Haitian Creole alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronoun

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ou (contracted form w)

  1. you (singular)

Hawaiian

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Pronoun

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ou

  1. yours, your Second person singular possessive, o-type.

Usage notes

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  • Used after negatives, numbers, locative nouns, certain prepositions, and after nouns preceded by an article or a k-determiner.
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Italian

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Interjection

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ou

  1. (usually impolite) used to get someone's attention; oi, hey
    Ou, mi stai ascoltando? ― Oi, are you listening to me?

Jamaican Creole

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Etymology

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Derived from English how.

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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ou

  1. how
    ou iz it?
    how is it?
    (literally, “How are things?/How are you?”)
    ou kom?
    how come?
    • 2019, “Recognize Patois As An Official Language; Says UWI”, in JamaicanInsider.com‎[1]:
      Juu tu ou Jamiekan a di wan langwij we bring evri Jamiekan tugeda;
      Due to how Jamaican is the language that brings all Jamaicans together;

Japanese

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Romanization

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ou

  1. Rōmaji transcription of おう

Mandarin

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Romanization

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ou (ou5／ou0, Zhuyin ˙ㄡ)

  1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of cmn, 嘔／呕

Romanization

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ou

  1. Nonstandard spelling of ōu.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of óu.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of ǒu.
  4. Nonstandard spelling of òu.

Usage notes

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  • 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.

Mauritian Creole

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Probably from French vous; compare Haitian Creole ou.

Pronoun

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ou (informal to)

  1. you (second-person singular formal personal pronoun)

See also

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Mauritian Creole personal pronouns
singular plural
1st person mo
mwa (objective) 		nou
2nd person to (informal), ou (formal)
twa (objective) 		zot
3rd person li zot, bann-la

Megleno-Romanian

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Noun

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ou n (plural uauă)

  1. Alternative form of uou

Middle English

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Pronoun

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ou

  1. Alternative form of yow

Middle French

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Preposition

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ou

  1. within
    • 15th century, Chronique de Charles VII roi de France par Jean Chartier, Tomé II, edited by Vallet de Viriville. Paris: P. Jannet, 1858, page 18.
      Discord et division ou royaulme de Castile.
      Discord and division within the kingdom of Castile

Norman

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Etymology

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From Old French ou, from Latin aut.

Conjunction

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ou

  1. (France, Guernsey) or

Old French

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Latin aut.

Conjunction

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ou

  1. or
Descendants
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  • French: ou

Etymology 2

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From Latin ubi.

Adverb

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ou

  1. where
    • 11th century, La Vie de Saint Alexis, BNF manuscript 19525
      Dona as povres ou qu'il les pout trouver
      He gave to the poor wherever he could find them
Descendants
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  • Middle French: où

Portuguese

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Etymology

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From Old Galician-Portuguese ou, from Latin aut.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ow
  • Hyphenation: ou

Conjunction

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ou

  1. or (connects at least two alternative words, phrases, clauses, sentences, etc. each of which could make a passage true)
    Escolhe a opção um ou a opção dois.
    Choose option one or option two.
  2. or (connects two equivalent names)
    Synonym: também
    Mianmar, ou Birmânia, fica na Ásia.
    Myanmar, or Burma, is located in Asia.

Quotations

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For quotations using this term, see Citations:ou.

Descendants

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  • Macanese: ó

Conjunction

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ou … ou

  1. either … or

Noun

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ou m (plural ous)

  1. (logic) inclusive or (connective which yields true when at least one of the predicates is true)

Quotations

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For quotations using this term, see Citations:ou.

Derived terms

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Inherited from Classical Latin ōvum, possibly via Vulgar Latin (*)ŏvum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ou n (plural ouă)

  1. egg
  2. (slang, chiefly in the plural) ball (testicle)

Declension

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singular plural
+ indefinite article + definite article + indefinite article + definite article
nominative/accusative (un) ou oul (niște) ouă ouăle
genitive/dative (unui) ou oului (unor) ouă ouălor
vocative oule ouălor
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Sardinian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited from Classical Latin ōvum, possibly via Vulgar Latin (*)ŏvum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ou m (plural ovos) (Logudorese, Campidanese)

  1. egg

References

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  • AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 1132: “l'uovo guasto” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
  • Wagner, Max Leopold (1960–1964) “óvu”, in Dizionario etimologico sardo, Heidelberg

Saterland Frisian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old Frisian of, from Proto-West Germanic *ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab. Cognates include West Frisian ôf and German ab.

Pronunciation

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Preposition

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ou (neuter or distal adverb deerou, proximal adverb hierou, interrogative adverb wierou)

  1. from

Adjective

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ou (masculine ouen, feminine, plural or definite oue)

  1. detached
  2. tired
  3. distant
  4. (games) out

References

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

Sicilian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈɔu/
  • Hyphenation: ò‧u

Etymology 1

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Noun

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ou m (plural ova)

  1. Alternative form of ovu

Etymology 2

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Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

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ou

  1. an exclamation to get attention.
    Ou, talè cca
    Hey, look at this!
    Ou! Ascuta!
    Hey! Listen!
  2. a protest or reprimand.
    Ou! Tàgghiala!
    Hey! Stop that!
  3. an expression of surprise.
    Ou! Quant'avìa ca nun ti vidìa!
    Hey! How long had I not seen you!
  4. an informal greeting, similar to ciau.
    Ou! Comu jemu?
    Hey! How's it going?
Synonyms
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Suena

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Noun

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ou

  1. water

References

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  • Transnewguinea.org, citing McElhanon and Voorhoeve (1970), Smallhorn (2011) and Wilson (1969)

Tongan

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Proto-Polynesian *au, from Proto-Oceanic *(i-)au, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *(i-)aku, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *(i-)aku, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *(i-)aku, from Proto-Austronesian *(i-)aku.

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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ou

  1. Alternative form of au

Zia

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Noun

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ou

  1. water

References

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  • Transnewguinea.org, citing McElhanon and Voorhoeve (1970), Smallhorn (2011) and Wilson (1969)
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