Ryukyu

See also: Ryūkyū

English

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Ryukyu Islands

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Ryukyu Islands

Alternative forms

• Ryūkyū, Riukiu

Etymology

From Japanese 琉球 (Ryūkyū), from Middle Chinese 流求 (MC ljuw gjuw), a Chinese exonym for the island kingdom, of unclear origin. Doublet of Liuqiu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹjuːkjuː/, /ɹiˈuːkjuː/

Proper noun

Ryukyu

1. A chain of islands in Japan roughly between Kyushu and Taiwan.

   Synonym: the Ryukyus

   • 1888 April, H. T. Stainton, “Nepticula Serella, N. SP.”, in Entomologist's Monthly Magazine‎, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 261:

     White Butterflies in Japan.[...]Shortly after this I left Yokohama for the Ryukyu Islands, and next had my attention attracted by the "White" in the Bay of Kagoshima.

   • 2015 May 29, “Volcano erupts on remote southern Japanese island”, in Deutsche Welle‎, archived from the original on 23 October 2015, Japan‎:

     About 140 people live on Kuchinoerabu island in the Ryukyu archipelago, which is approximately 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of the main southern island of Kyushu.

Synonyms

• (from Mandarin Chinese) Liuqiu, Liuchiu

Translations

Japanese island chain

Ainu: please add this translation if you can Azerbaijani: Rükü Chinese: Mandarin: 琉球 (zh) (Liúqiú), 琉球群島 / 琉球群岛 (zh) (Liúqiú qúndǎo), 琉球諸島 / 琉球诸岛 (Liúqiú zhūdǎo), 琉球列島 / 琉球列岛 (Liúqiú lièdǎo) French: Ryūkyū (fr), Ryukyu (fr), Riou-Kiou (fr), Riou Kiou (fr), Ryu-Kyu (fr), Ryu Kyu (fr), Lou-tchou (fr), Liou-tchou (fr), Liou-Tchou (fr), Lieou-Kieou (fr), Liéou-Kiéou (fr) Japanese: 琉球 (ja) (りゅうきゅう, Ryūkyū), 琉球諸島 (りゅうきゅうしょとう, Ryūkyū-shotō), 南西諸島 (ja) (なんせいしょとう, Nansei-shotō) Korean: 류큐 제도 (Ryukyu jedo) Manchu: ᠯᡳᠣ ᡴᡳᠣ (lio kio) Marathi: र्‍यूक्यू f (r‍yūkyū) Okinawan: 琉球 (るーちゅー, Rūchū, どぅーちゅー, Dūchū) Portuguese: Ilhas Léquias f Russian: Рюкю́ (ru) m (Rjukjú) (indeclinable) Vietnamese: Lưu Cầu

Further reading

• “Ryukyu, Riukiu”, in Google Books Ngram Viewer
• Leon E. Seltzer, editor (1952), “Ryukyu Islands”, in The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World‎, Morningside Heights, NY: Columbia University Press, →OCLC, page 1618, column 2: “Formerly sometimes spelled Liukiu, Liu-ch’iu, Lu-chu, Loo-choo, and Riukiu.”
• Saul B. Cohen, editor (1998), “Ryukyu Islands”, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World‎, volume 3, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 2674, columns 1, 2: “Other forms of the name are Lu-chu, Loo-choo, Liu-kiu, and Riukiu.”