تو

Arabic

Etymology

In the sense of a knot from Persian تو (tô, “twist”). In the sense of having been just a borrowing from Egyptian Arabic تَوّ (taww) in its meaning, also Hassaniya Arabic تو (tow, “instant”), Marazīq Tunisian Arabic تاو (tâu, “moment”), in view of Sabaean 𐩻𐩥 (ṯw, “until”) borrowed from Old South Arabian, in its more original meaning present in Andalusian Arabic ثَو ذَا (ṯaw ḏā) or تَو ذَا (taw ḏā, “until now”) and Yemeni Arabic تَو (taw, “in front of”), and following this prepositional character still most notorious with personal suffixes. Possibly corresponding to سَوْفَ (sawfa) and Ge'ez ሶበ (sobä), ሶቤ (sobe, “when”).

Noun

تَوّ • (taww) m (plural أَتْوَاء (ʔatwāʔ))

1. (obsolete) a knot, a twist or contortion in a rope; a rope that is twisted of a single strand
2. instantaneousness, immediacy, onlyness, the condition of having been present just i.e. recently and/or alone

Usage notes

Though parsing as a noun, the sense of an “instance” is of restricted use, often in the adverbial accusative تَوًّا (tawwan, “just; in a bit”), and in prepositional phrases فِي التَوِّ (fī t-tawwi) and لِلتَّوِّ (li-t-tawwi) which latter in particular also takes personal suffixes instead of the article, for the findability of which constructions this dictionary entry renders the following table:

Inflection

Declension

Derived terms

• تَوَّة (tawwa, “a short period”)

References

• Corriente, F. (1997) A Dictionary of Andalusi Arabic (Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East; 29)‎, Leiden, New York, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 81b
• Corriente, Federico (2008) “Additions and corrections to A Dictionary of Andalusi Arabic”, in Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes‎, volume 98, page 41
• Freytag, Georg (1830) “تو”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 203a
• Lane, Edward William (1863) “تو”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎, London: Williams & Norgate, pages 320–321
• Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “تو”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart‎ (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, page 146a

Kohistani Shina

Noun

توٗ (tó)

1. boiled egg

Malay

Determiner

تو (tu)

1. Arabic spelling of tu (“that (what is being indicated)”)

Pronoun

تو (tu)

1. Arabic spelling of tu (“that (that thing)”)

Persian

Etymology 1

From Middle Persian 𐭫𐭪 (LK /⁠tō⁠/, “you, thou”), from Old Persian (compare 𐎬𐎺𐎶 (tuvam)), from Proto-Iranian *tuHám (compare Northern Kurdish tu, Pashto ته (tə), Avestan 𐬙𐬏𐬨 (tūm)), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *tuHám, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronunciation

• audio (Iran)

  (file)

Pronoun

تو • (to)

1. you, thou (informal, singular)
2. (generally with following را) you, thee
3. (at the end of an ezafe) your, thy

Usage notes

• The form تو را (to râ) may be contracted into ترا (torâ). In Iranian Persian and Tajik, both forms are pronounced the same regardless.
• some dialects use all regional pronunciations interchangeably

See also

See also

• شما (formal, polite, and grammatically plural)

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tuː/

Noun

تو • (tav, tow) (archaic)

1. pool, puddle

Etymology 3

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

Noun

تو • (tô) (archaic)

1. fold, twist, turn

Etymology 4

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tuː/

Noun

تو • (tu)

1. (Iran or rare) inside; interior
2. (In some dialects as Luri) room, especially an outdoor room (Synonymous with اتاق (otâq, otâq) which is of Turkic origin)

Preposition

تو • (tu)

1. (Iran or rare) in; inside

   Synonym: در (dar)

Usage notes

• May be construed with or without ezafe.

Adverb

تو • (tu)

1. (Iran or rare) inside

Adjective

تو • (tu)

1. (Iran or rare) within; interior; inner

   Synonym: در (dar)

Southwestern Fars

Noun

تو (tow)

1. (Masarm, Deh Sarv) fever

Urdu

Etymology 1

Inherited from Sauraseni Apabhramsa तुहुं (tuhũ), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀢𑀼𑀫𑀁 (tumaṃ), 𑀢𑀼𑀁 (tuṃ), from Sanskrit त्वम् (tvam).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /t̪uː/
• Rhymes: -uː

Pronoun

تُو • (tū) (Hindi spelling तू)

1. (informal, intimate, contemptuous, possibly vulgar) second-person singular subjective personal pronoun: you, thou; Early Modern English thou.
2. (dialectal, literary, religion) second-person singular subjective personal pronoun, intimate or very polite: thou

   اے خدا تو ہی میرا مددگار ہے!

   ai xudā tū-hī merā madadgār hai!

   O God, only thou art my helper!

Usage notes

• تو is the least formal way of expressing "you" in Urdu and is used when addressing those of much lower social status or those one has a close enough relationship with to justify the reduced formality. Because the less formal forms could offend others, آپ is the safest way to express "you" unless there is reason to be less formal, where تم would be appropriate. The usage of تو varies. In some cases speakers would use it to refer to babies or children or even close friends, while others would use it only to refer to those they consider socially inferior, and some consider its use for people to be very rude in any situation. However تو, when used to address deities reflects a sense of reverence and closeness commensurate with the lack of formalities.

Determiner

تُو • (tū) sg (plural تم, Hindi spelling तू)

1. (informal, intimate, contemptuous, possibly vulgar) the individual spoken or written to; you, thou, Early Modern English thou.

Declension

See also

• تم (tum) - semiformal, familiar, grammatically plural
• آپ (āp) - formal, polite, grammatically plural

Etymology 2

Inherited from Sauraseni Prakrit, probably from Sanskrit ततस् (tatas, “from there”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /t̪oː/

Conjunction

تو • (to) (Hindi spelling तो)

1. then

References

• Platts, John T. (1884) “تو”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
• McGregor, Ronald Stuart (1993) “तू”, in The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, London: Oxford University Press