Words ending in -u

Scotty210 · #1 (**permalink**) 01-Oct-2006, 16:39

im desperately trying to help my little sister find words in U and even though iv done A level english i cant for the life of me think of words ending in the letter u. Rather random i will agree but running out of ideas!!!

Thanks,

Scott

rewboss · #2 (**permalink**) 01-Oct-2006, 17:57

I can think of "flu" (actually a contraction of "influenza" but now considered to be a real word) and "gnu". In American English "through" is sometimes contracted to "thru", but I'm not sure if that counts.

MikeNewYork · #3 (**permalink**) 01-Oct-2006, 19:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scotty210

im desperately trying to help my little sister find words in U and even though iv done A level english i cant for the life of me think of words ending in the letter u. Rather random i will agree but running out of ideas!!!

Thanks,

Scott

Here are many. Some are proper names, but most are not. They are all entries in Webster's Third Dictionary. I'll list the most common ones first.

adieu, beau, cru, eau, ecru, flu, gnu, guru, jehu, lieu, manitou, manitu, milieu, mu, nu, Peru, tau

aku, ausu, battu, batu, biacuru, bu, bussu, cachou, carajuru, cebu, lhimu, clou, ecu, feru, fou, gaspergou, gou, hu, jacu, jararacucu, khmu, kru, ku, lu, mafu, maidou, macu, maku, maniu, mi-lu, motu, mou, mru, mundurucu, nu-tzu, ombu, palau, perdu, piu, pou, pu, ringatu, sajou, shu

RobbieCook · #4 (**permalink**) 01-Oct-2006, 19:23

Menu and tofu are the only ones coming to my mind (which haven't been mentioned already).

BobK · #5 (**permalink**) 02-Oct-2006, 09:02

Mike's got most of them, I reckon.

What about 'bureau'? (And another thing: I know the meaning 'department' works in AmE, but what about the item of furniture?)

b

Philly · #6 (**permalink**) 02-Oct-2006, 11:59

.
Things such as "travel bureau" or some sort of "governmental bureau" (FBI, for example

) work in AmE, too. As for furniture, I would expect a bureau to be a chest of drawers (for clothing).
.

Shad · #7 (**permalink**) 02-Oct-2006, 12:54

And YOU?

rewboss · #8 (**permalink**) 02-Oct-2006, 13:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shad

And YOU?

Yep, we all seem to have missed the obvious, which just proves that working professionally with languages doesn't make you very good at this sort of game. :)

As well as "you", of course, we also have the archaic singular form "thou". We also have "situ" (as in: "in situ") and also "fugu", a species of pufferfish served (illegaly in most cases) as a delicacy in Japan -- if not prepared perfectly correctly, it can be poisonous. It's also known as "takifugu".