gau

See also: Gau, GAU, gấu, gâu, gáu, and ǁgau

English

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

• ghau

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡaʊ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ
• Homophone: Gow

Noun

gau (plural gaus)

1. (Tibetan Buddhism) A prayer box or small container worn as jewelry and containing an amulet or similar item.

Etymology 2

From either Hokkien 厚 (kāu, “thick”) or Teochew 厚 (gao⁶, “thick”), influenced in spelling by Mandarin Pinyin.

Alternative forms

• gao, kau

Pronunciation

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): [k˭aʊ˨]

Adjective

gau (not comparable)

1. (Singapore, colloquial, of coffee) Strong (used as a modifier after kopi (“coffee”)).

   Kopi Gau ― Strong coffee with sugar and condensed milk

2. (Singapore, colloquial, more generally, less common) Thick; having a strong or overwhelming flavour.
   • 2019 August 24, Yeo Boon Ping, quoting Zachary Tang, “If Zi Char Dishes Were In A Battle Royale, Which Would Come Out Tops?”, in ricemedia.co‎^[3], archived from the original on 12 July 2024:

     But for all the eggs and liao (ingredients) you have, it isn’t gao (strong).

Related terms

• C
• di lo
• gah dai
• kosong
• O
• peng
• po
• siew dai

Etymology 3

Noun

gau

1. Alternative form of jow (“pre-metric unit of length in India”)

Anagrams

• AGU, Aug, Aug., GUA, UGA, aug

Basque

Alternative forms

• gai

Etymology

Unknown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡau̯/ [ɡau̯]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -au̯
• Hyphenation: gau

Noun

gau inan

1. night

Declension

Declension of gau (inanimate, ending in vowel)

	indefinite	singular	plural
absolutive	gau	gaua	gauak
ergative	gauk	gauak	gauek
dative	gauri	gauari	gauei
genitive	gauren	gauaren	gauen
comitative	gaurekin	gauarekin	gauekin
causative	gaurengatik	gauarengatik	gauengatik
benefactive	gaurentzat	gauarentzat	gauentzat
instrumental	gauez	gauaz	gauez
inessive	gautan	gauean	gauetan
locative	gautako	gaueko	gauetako
allative	gautara	gauera	gauetara
terminative	gautaraino	gaueraino	gauetaraino
directive	gautarantz	gauerantz	gauetarantz
destinative	gautarako	gauerako	gauetarako
ablative	gautatik	gauetik	gauetatik
partitive	gaurik	—	—
prolative	gautzat	—	—

Derived terms

• gabon (“good night”)
• gauenara
• gauerdi
• gauero (“every night”)
• gaur (“today”)

Descendants

• → Gascon: gaüs, gahús, guèhus, guehús, cahús, caüs, gohús

French

Alternative forms

• gaut, go

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡo/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o

Noun

gau m (plural gaux)

1. (slang) louse

Kalo Finnish Romani

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡɑu]

Noun

gau m (nominative plural gaave)

1. village

Further reading

• Kimmo Granqvist (2011) “Eräitä keskeisiä äännevaihteluja”, in Lyhyt Suomen romanikielen kielioppi [Consice grammar of Finnish Romani]‎^[4] (in Finnish), Helsinki: Institute for the Languages of Finland, →ISBN, →ISSN, retrieved February 10, 2022, page 12

Lashi

Lashi cardinal numbers

<  8	9	10  >
Cardinal : gau

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d/s-kəw. Cognates include Nuosu ꈬ (ggu) and Burmese ကိုး (kui:).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡaw/, [ɡɔw]

Numeral

gau

1. nine

References

• Mark Wannemacher (2011) A phonological overview of the Lacid language‎^[5], Chiang Mai: Payap University.

Latin

Etymology

Poetic clipping of gaudium. Attributed to Ennius (circa 200 BCE) by the poet Ausonius in his catalogue of monosyllabic Latin words, never attested directly.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ɡau̯/, [ɡäu̯]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ɡau̯/, [ɡäːu̯]

Noun

gau n (indeclinable) (archaic, poetic, hapax)

1. Clipping of gaudium (“joy”).
   • c. 310 CE – c. 395 CE, Ausonius, Technopaegnion 144:

     Ennius ut memorat, repleat te laetificum gau.

     As Ennius says, may gladdening joy fill you.

Declension

Indeclinable noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	gau	gau
genitive	gau	gau
dative	gau	gau
accusative	gau	gau
ablative	gau	gau
vocative	gau	gau

References

• “gau”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• gau in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “gau” in volume 6, part 2, column 1701, line 34 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present

Low German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudden, quick”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Dutch gauw (“quickly”), German jäh (“sudden, abrupt”). More at gay.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡaʊ̯/

Adjective

gau

1. quick

Niuean

Verb

gau

1. chew

Derived terms

• gagau

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse gauð.

Noun

gau n (definite singular gauet, indefinite plural gau, definite plural gaua)

1. a bark
2. (collective) barking
3. noise

Derived terms

• gaua, gaue (verb)

References

• “gau” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• aug, aug., uga

Saterland Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian gā, from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz. More at gay.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɣaːu̯/
• Hyphenation: gau
• Rhymes: -aːu̯

Adverb

gau

1. quickly; swiftly
2. soon; at once

Welsh

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aɨ̯

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *gāwā (“falsehood, lie”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeH₂u- (“to be faulty, at fault, lacking”). Cognate with Cornish gow, Breton gaou; outside of Celtic, compare Latin haud (“scarcely, hardly”), Avestan 𐬔𐬀𐬎 (gau, “to commit a sin; to promote”).

Adjective

gau (feminine singular gau, plural geuon, equative geued, comparative geuach, superlative geuaf)

1. false, fake

   Synonym: ffals

Derived terms

• euog (“guilty”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of gau

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
gau	au	ngau	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Etymology 2

Mutated form of cau (“to close”).

Verb

gau

1. Soft mutation of cau.

Mutation

Mutated forms of cau

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
cau	gau	nghau	chau

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “gau”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
• Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 154
• Cheung, Johnny (2007) Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 2), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 95

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian gā, from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz.

Adverb

gau

1. quickly

   Synonym: rap

2. soon

Further reading

• “gau (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011