pou

See also: Pou, póu, pòu, põu, pōu, pǒu, and POU

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch pauw.

Pronunciation

Audio (file)

Noun

pou (plural poue, diminutive poutjie)

peacock

Derived terms

gompou

Amanab

Noun

pou

a kind of snake

Catalan

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencian)
Audio (file)
Rhymes: -ow

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Catalan pou, from pre-literary */ˈpot͡s/, from Latin puteus. First attested in 1272.

Noun

pou m (plural pous)

well (a hole sunk into the ground as a source of water, oil, natural gas or other fluids)
(figurative) well (a source of supply)
- 2020 August 11, Mònica Planas Callol, “Secrets i prejudicis a l’americana ”, in Ara‎:
  La sèrie provoca una angoixa creixent en l’espectador per la tendència dels personatges a amagar les seves ferides en comptes de guarir-les, i això es converteix en un pou de malentesos i conflictes que es van acumulant.
  The show causes a growing anxiety in the viewer because of the characters' tendency to hide their wounds instead of healing them, and that becomes a well of misunderstandings and conflicts that build up over time.

Derived terms

pouar

Etymology 2

Verb

pou

(Balearic, Alghero) first-person singular present indicative of pouar

References

^ “pou”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French pouil, peouil, püil, from Late Latin peduclus < peduculus, variant of Latin pēdīculus, from pēdis, from Proto-Indo-European *pezd-. The singular is a back-formation from the plural (see also genou with the same development).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /pu/
audio (file)
Audio (Paris) (file)
Homophones: poux, pouls
Rhymes: -u

Noun

pou m (plural poux)

louse; head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis)

Usage notes

Only seven words in French ending in -ou have their plurals in -oux instead of -ous: bijou, caillou, chou, genou, hibou, joujou, pou.

Derived terms

Haitian Creole

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /pu/

Etymology 1

From French pour (“for”).

Preposition

pou

for
- 2019 March 19, “Rankont ann Itali ant Anvwaye Espesyal Etazini ak Larisi sou Kriz Venezuela a”, in Lavwadlamerik‎:
  Anvwaye espesyal Etazini pou Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, ak vis-minis afè etranjè Larisi, Sergei Ryabkov, ap fè reyinyon nan vil Wòm ann Itali pou yo pale sou “sityasyon Venezuela kap agrave.”
  American Special Envoy for Venezuela Elliot Abrams and Russian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov are meeting in the city of Rome, Italy to speak about "the worsening situation in Venezuela."

Etymology 2

From French pou (“louse”).

Noun

pou

louse

Mandarin

Romanization

pou

Nonstandard spelling of pōu.
Nonstandard spelling of póu.
Nonstandard spelling of pǒu.
Nonstandard spelling of pòu.

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.