Word.ws English Dictionary

lu

/luː/

lu is the archaic form of loo.

Meaning of loo

Noun (1)

loo (plural loos)

  1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK) A lavatory: a room used for urination and defecation.
    • I suppose it is unreal because we have been expecting it [sc. World War II] for so long now, and have known that it must be got over before we can go on with our lives. Like in the night when you want to go to the loo and it is miles away down a freezing cold passage and yet you know you have to go...1940, Nancy Mitford, chapter II, in Pigeon Pie, page 27
    Synonyms:
    bathroom
  2. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK) A toilet: a fixture used for urination and defecation.
    • The lack of running water in rural areas often makes Western-style loos hygienic disasters. Suddenly the noncontact squat toilet doesn′t look like such a bad option any more (as long as you roll up your trouser legs).2009, Katharina Kane, Lonely Planet: The Gambia and Senegal, page 275
    Synonyms:
    toilet

Noun (2)

loo (uncountable)

  1. The penalty paid to the pool in lanterloo for breaking certain rules or failing to take a trick.
  2. An act that prompts such a penalty.
  3. A game of lanterloo.
  4. (figuratively) Any group of people.

See all 15 meanings of loo

Noun (1)

lu (usually uncountable, plural lus)

  1. (historical, usually) Synonym of route or circuit, an administrative division of imperial China.
    Synonyms:
    route or circuit

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Lu

Lu

  1. A diminutive of the female given name Lucy and related names.
    • "Why?" said Lucy in amazement, "haven't you all been wondering where I was?" "So you've been hiding, have you?" Peter said. "Poor old Lu, hiding and nobody noticed!1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Fontana Lions, published 1980, →ISBN, page 27

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Lu

IPA/ˈlu/

Lu (plural Lus)

  1. (countable) A Chinese surname from Mandarin from 呂／吕 (Lǚ).
    • Lu Yan [translating 呂巖 /吕岩] (A.D. 798–?), courtesy name Dongbin, literary name Chunyangzi. According to tradition, Luzu [translating 呂祖 /吕祖 (Lǚzǔ)] was from Jingzhao [translating 京兆 (Jīngzhào)] Prefecture, in which Changan, the Tang Dynasty (618–908) capital, was situated; however, he is also...1993, “Notes”, in Thomas L. Kennedy, transl., Testimony of a Confucian Woman: The Autobiography of Mrs. Nie Zeng Jifen, 1852-1942, University of Georgia Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 151
    • As editor-in-chief of the pro-communist Kuangming News (光明報), Lu He-ruo (呂赫若) became a wanted man after the newspaper was raided by the authorities in August 1949. While many of his friends were arrested and executed, he managed to elude capture by hiding in the mountains of today’s New Taipei...
    • Lu never made it out of the mountains, and his death remained a mystery for decades.2023 March 12, Han Cheung, “Taiwan in Time: A multi-talented dissident”, in Taipei Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Mar 2023, Features, page 13
  2. (countable) A Chinese surname from Mandarin from 盧／卢 (Lú).
  3. (countable) A Chinese surname from Mandarin from 陸／陆 (Lù).
  4. (countable) A Chinese surname from Mandarin from 魯／鲁 (Lǔ).
  5. (countable) A Chinese surname from Mandarin from 路 (Lù).
  6. (countable) A Chinese surname from Mandarin from 蘆／芦 (Lú).
  7. (countable) A Chinese surname from Mandarin from 祿／禄 (Lù).
  8. (countable) A Chinese surname from Mandarin from 逯 (Lù).
  9. (countable) A Chinese surname from Mandarin from 鹿 (Lù).

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Lu

IPA/ˈlu/

Lu (plural Lus)

  1. A Chinese surname from Hokkien.

Proper noun (4) capitalized: Lu

IPA/ˈlu/

Lu

  1. 魯國／鲁国 (Lǔguó); An ancient vassal state of China that existed approximately between 1042–249 BC.

Proper noun (5) capitalized: Lu

Lu

  1. Synonym of Luren (“a Chinese language”).
    Synonyms:
    Luren

Proper noun (6) capitalized: LU

LU

  1. (UK, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of London Underground.
  2. (US, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Liberty Union Party.
  3. (Philippines, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of La Union: a province of the Ilocos Region, Philippines.

Noun (2) capitalized: LU

LU (plural LUs)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of livestock unit.

Noun (3) capitalized: LU

LU

  1. A matrix decomposition which writes a matrix as the product of a lower and upper triangular matrix, used in numerical analysis to solve systems of linear equations or find the inverse of a matrix.

Synonyms of lu

Forms of lu

Verb
third-person singular presentlus
present participleluing
past participlelued
pastlued
Noun
plurallus
pluralLUs
Proper noun
pluralLus
alternative formLoo
alternative formLou
alternative formLouh

Origin of lu

A romanization of Chinese 路 (lù, “route”)

Clipping of Lucy, Lucille, and similar names.

From Mandarin surname pronunciations

Words that rhyme with lu

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about lu

What does lu mean?
Lu means synonym of route or circuit, an administrative division of imperial China.
What is lu the archaic form of?
Lu is the archaic form of loo.
What part of speech is lu?
Lu can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lu?
Lu is pronounced /luː/.
What is the plural of lu?
The plural of lu is lus.

Words near lu in the dictionary

  1. LTT
  2. LTTE
  3. LTV
  4. LTVs
  5. ltw
  6. lu
  7. Lu'an
  8. Lu-kang
  9. Lu-liang
  10. LUA
  11. Luacan

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lu (page history and authors); Lu (page history and authors); LU (page history and authors); loo (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:

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