qu

See also: Appendix:Variations of "qu"

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Quechua or Spanish quechua, from Quechua qhichwa.

Symbol

qu

1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Quechua.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Quechua terms

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Districts in China

Wikipedia

Etymology

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 區 / 区.

Noun

qu (plural qus)

1. (China) An administrative subdivision of China roughly equivalent to districts, distinguished from the more rural "counties" (xian).
   • [1973, Survey of China Mainland Press‎, numbers 5308-5345, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52:

     […] the Party committee of Peiyuanmen commune of Lienhu ch'u in Sian municipality has since the year before last set up outside-school cultural activity centers in the commune headquarters and in various neighborhood committees.]

   • 1990, Barrett L. McCormick, “Elections to Local People's Congresses”, in Political Reform in Post-Mao China: Democracy and Bureaucracy in a Leninist State‎, University of California Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 138:

     At the time of the elections (1980) Nanjing was subdivided into three suburban counties (xian) and nine urban districts (qu).

   • 2009, Roger Des Forges, “Tales of Three City Walls in China's Central Plain”, in Chinese Walls in Time and Space: A Multidisciplinary Perspective, →ISBN, →ISSN, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 60–61:

     As we have seen, the people of Guide/Shangqiu have traced the history of their city back well before the Ming and especially to the Han period. The People's Republic has recognized that heritage by naming the district subordinate to Shangqiu city the Liangyuan qu (Liang Garden District) and the district subordinate to Guide the Suiyang qu (Suiyang District) (see Map 3).

Azerbaijani

Other scripts

Cyrillic		гу
Arabic		قو

Etymology

From Proto-Common Turkic *quɣu (“swan”), from Proto-Turkic *kugu (“swan”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɡu]
• Hyphenation: qu

Noun

qu (definite accusative qunu, plural qular)

1. swan

   Synonym: qu quşu

Declension

Declension of qu

	singular	plural
nominative	qu	qular
definite accusative	qunu	quları
dative	quya	qulara
locative	quda	qularda
ablative	qudan	qulardan
definite genitive	qunun	quların

Possessive forms of qu

	nominative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	qum	qularım
sənin (“your”)	qun	quların
onun (“his/her/its”)	qusu	quları
bizim (“our”)	qumuz	qularımız
sizin (“your”)	qunuz	qularınız
onların (“their”)	qusu or quları	quları
	accusative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	qumu	qularımı
sənin (“your”)	qunu	qularını
onun (“his/her/its”)	qusunu	qularını
bizim (“our”)	qumuzu	qularımızı
sizin (“your”)	qunuzu	qularınızı
onların (“their”)	qusunu or qularını	qularını
	dative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	quma	qularıma
sənin (“your”)	quna	qularına
onun (“his/her/its”)	qusuna	qularına
bizim (“our”)	qumuza	qularımıza
sizin (“your”)	qunuza	qularınıza
onların (“their”)	qusuna or qularına	qularına
	locative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	qumda	qularımda
sənin (“your”)	qunda	qularında
onun (“his/her/its”)	qusunda	qularında
bizim (“our”)	qumuzda	qularımızda
sizin (“your”)	qunuzda	qularınızda
onların (“their”)	qusunda or qularında	qularında
	ablative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	qumdan	qularımdan
sənin (“your”)	qundan	qularından
onun (“his/her/its”)	qusundan	qularından
bizim (“our”)	qumuzdan	qularımızdan
sizin (“your”)	qunuzdan	qularınızdan
onların (“their”)	qusundan or qularından	qularından
	genitive
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	qumun	qularımın
sənin (“your”)	qunun	qularının
onun (“his/her/its”)	qusunun	qularının
bizim (“our”)	qumuzun	qularımızın
sizin (“your”)	qunuzun	qularınızın
onların (“their”)	qusunun or qularının	qularının

References

• Orucov, Əliheydər, editor (2006), “qu”, in Azərbaycan dilinin izahlı lüğəti [Explanatory Dictionary of the Azerbaijani Language]‎ (in Azerbaijani), 2nd edition, volume 3, Baku: Şərq-Qərb

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ky/

Noun

qu m (plural qus)

1. alternative spelling of ku

Mandarin

Romanization

qu (qu⁵ / qu⁰, Zhuyin ˙ㄑㄩ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 戌

qu

1. nonstandard spelling of qū
2. nonstandard spelling of qú
3. nonstandard spelling of qǔ
4. nonstandard spelling of qù

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.

Spanish

Letter

qu (lower case, upper case QU, mixed case Qu)

1. a digraph from the letters q and u

Further reading

• “qu”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025