au

See also: Appendix:Variations of "au"

Languages (57)

Translingual • English

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Alemannic German • Antigua and Barbuda Creole English • Aragonese • Arin • Big Nambas • Catalan • Cia-Cia • Cimbrian • Czech • Dutch • Esperanto • Estonian • Fijian • Finnish • French • Galo • Hawaiian • Hiri Motu • Hokkien • Iban • Icelandic • Japanese • Kedang • Kiowa • Kott • Latin • Makasar • Malay • Maori • Middle English • Miskito • Mizo • Mokilese • Niuean • Norwegian Bokmål • Norwegian Nynorsk • Old French • Old Irish • Polish • Portuguese • Rapa Nui • Romanian • Swahili • Tahitian • Tày • Ternate • Tetum • Tidore • Tokelauan • Tongan • Tuvaluan • Vietnamese • West Makian • Western Apache • Zhuang

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Page categories

Translingual

Symbol

au

1. IAU recommended unit symbol for astronomical unit

Usage notes

• IAU bodies, such as the Minor Planet Center, themselves frequently use AU instead of "au".

Synonyms

• ua (BIPM recommendation for the unit symbol of astronomical unit)
• ㍳ (Unicode glyph for astronomical unit)

English

Noun

au (plural au)

1. Abbreviation of atomic unit.
2. Abbreviation of arbitrary unit.
3. Abbreviation of astronomical unit.
4. Abbreviation of Absorbance Units.

Noun

au

1. A vowel found in Indic abugidas.

   Synonym: letter au

Anagrams

• U/A, UA, uA

Alemannic German

Alternative forms

• ou

Etymology

From Old High German ouh, from Proto-Germanic *auk. Cognate with German auch, Dutch ook, English eke, Swedish och.

Pronunciation

• (Zürich) IPA^(key): /æʊ/

Adverb

au

1. also, too

Antigua and Barbuda Creole English

Alternative forms

• hau

Etymology

From English how.

Adverb

au

1. how

Aragonese

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin au (“oh! ow! oh dear! goodness gracious!”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈau̯/
• Syllabification: au
• Rhymes: -au̯

Interjection

au

1. now, let's go (as an incitement to action or to a decision)

   Synonym: aire

2. ouch (An expression of one's own physical pain)

   Synonyms: ai, ah, oh, holio, conyo, conye, sinyor

3. aha (An Expression of incredulity or doubt)

   Synonyms: au-va, araba, ah, va

4. please (When asking for something in a familiar tone)

   Synonyms: per favor, au va

Etymology 2

From Latin avis, avem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈau̯/
• Syllabification: au
• Rhymes: -au̯

Noun

au f (plural aus)

1. bird

References

• “ave”, in Aragonario, diccionario castellano–aragonés (in Spanish)
• Gramatica basica de l'aragonés (2017)

Arin

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Yeniseian *aw.

Pronoun

au

1. you (singular)

Big Nambas

Interjection

au

1. yes

   Au, ip'as!.

   Yes, alright!.

References

• Big Nambas Grammar Pacific Linguistics - G.J. Fox

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈaw]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aw

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin au (“oh! ow! oh dear! goodness gracious!”).

Interjection

au

1. now (as an incitement to action or to a decision)

Etymology 2

Inherited from Latin avis, avem, from Proto-Italic *awis (“bird”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwis (“bird”).

Noun

au f (plural aus)

2. bird

   Synonym: ocell

Related terms

• ocell

Further reading

• “au”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “au”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “au” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “au” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Cia-Cia

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *asu, from Proto-Austronesian *asu.

Noun

au (Hangul spelling 아우)

1. dog (animal)

References

• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*asu”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

Cimbrian

Etymology

The sense “north” may be reinforced by or a semantic loan from Venetan: vago su a Trénto (“I go north to Trento”, literally “I go up to Trento”). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Adverb

au (Sette Comuni)

1. up, upwards

   au un abe ― up and down

   Au in de pèrghe machelts khalt

   Up in the mountains it is cold.

2. north, up north

   Ich ghéa au kan Triin.

   I'm going up north to Trento.

Antonyms

• abe, abar

Derived terms

• au, au
• denàu
• ghéenan au naach
• haltan au

References

• “au” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974), Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈau̯]

Interjection

au

1. ouch

   Synonym: auvajs

Dutch

Alternative forms

• auw

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑu̯/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: au
• Rhymes: -ɑu̯

Interjection

au

1. ouch!

   Au, ja dat doet pijn! ― Ouch, yeah that hurts!

Descendants

• Negerhollands: au, o
• Petjo: aoew

Esperanto

Conjunction

au

1. H-system spelling of aŭ

Estonian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *auvo, itself possibly from Proto-Germanic *auja-, compare Old Norse ey (“luck, heavenly aid”) and Gothic 𐌰𐍅𐌹- (awi-) in 𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌸 (awiliuþ). Cognate to Finnish auvo and Livonian o’v. Possibly related to the verb avama.

Noun

au (genitive au, partitive au)

1. honour/honor, respect

Declension

Declension of au (ÕS type 26/koi, no gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		au	aud
accusative	nom.
	gen.	au
genitive			aude
partitive		au	ausid
illative		ausse	audesse
inessive		aus	audes
elative		aust	audest
allative		aule	audele
adessive		aul	audel
ablative		ault	audelt
translative		auks	audeks
terminative		auni	audeni
essive		auna	audena
abessive		auta	audeta
comitative		auga	audega

Derived terms

• aus

Compounds

• auhind
• aupaklik
• ausõna
• autasu
• meheau
• mundriau

Fijian

Etymology

From Proto-Central-Pacific *au, from Proto-Oceanic *(i-)au, from Proto-Austronesian *(i-)aku.

Pronoun

au

1. I (personal pronoun)
2. me (direct object of a verb)
3. me (object of a preposition)
4. me (indirect object of a verb)
5. my (belonging to me)

See also

Fijian personal pronouns

				singular	dual	paucal	plural
1st person				au	keirau (exclusive) kedaru (inclusive)	keitou (exclusive) kedatou (inclusive)	keimami (exclusive) keda (inclusive)
2nd person				iko	kemudrau	kemudou	kemuni
3rd person				koya	rau	iratou	ira

Finnish

Etymology

Natural.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑu̯/, [ˈɑ̝u̯]
• Rhymes: -ɑu
• Syllabification^(key): au
• Hyphenation^(key): au

Interjection

au

1. ow, ouch

Synonyms

• ai
• auts

Further reading

• “au”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

Anagrams

• -ua

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o/

  • Audio (Paris):

    (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o
• Homophones: aulx, aux, eau, eaux, haut, hauts, ho, o, ô, oh, os

Contraction

au (used with a singular masculine noun)

1. contraction of à +‎ le, literally “to the, for the, at the”

   Synonym: à le — Louisiana

   Il étudie la musique au conservatoire.

   He studies music at the conservatory.

See also

• à la
• à l'
• aux

Further reading

• “au”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• ua

Galo

Etymology

From Proto-Tani *fu.

Noun

au

1. grease, fat, oil