Word.ws English Dictionary

gau

/ɡaʊ/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Singapore[k˭aʊ˨]

gau noun: a prayer box or small container worn as jewelry and containing an amulet or similar item. Also the alternative form of jow.

Noun (1)

gau (plural gaus)

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

Adjective

gau (not comparable)

  1. (Singapore, colloquial) Strong (used as a modifier after kopi (“coffee”)).
    • Kopi Gau
  2. (Singapore, broadly, colloquial, uncommon) Thick; having a strong or overwhelming flavour.
    • But for all the eggs and liao (ingredients) you have, it isn’t gao (strong).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, archived from the original on 12 Jul 2024

Noun (2)

gau (plural gaus or gaue)

  1. District, region.

Proper noun capitalized: Gau

Gau (plural Gaus)

  1. A surname.

Also used as

gau is also the alternative form of jow.

Forms of gau

Noun
pluralgaus
alternative formghau
pluralgaue
Adjective
alternative formgao
alternative formkau
Proper noun
pluralGaus

Origin of gau

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

From German Gau, from Middle High German göu, gou, from Old High German gawi.

Two main origins: * Borrowed from German Gau, a habitational surname. * A variant of Gao, a surname of Chinese origin.

Phrases with gau

Words that rhyme with gau

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about gau

What does gau mean?
Gau means a prayer box or small container worn as jewelry and containing an amulet or similar item.
What part of speech is gau?
Gau can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce gau?
Gau is pronounced /ɡaʊ/.
What is the plural of gau?
The plural of gau is gaus.

Words near gau in the dictionary

  1. Gatwick
  2. Gatz
  3. Gatzes
  4. Gatzke
  5. Gatzkes
  6. gau
  7. gau dim
  8. gau lak
  9. gau luk
  10. Gau Tau
  11. gaub

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gau (page history and authors); Gau (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gau.wav.

Cite this entry: “gau.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gau. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.