Abu

name, noun, particle, slang

name, noun, particle, slang ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Initialism of anyone but United: a fan who dislikes Manchester United and will support any team that is playing against them. UK, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, slang
Particle
  1. 1
    A common part of Arabic-derived names, meaning "father of" in Arabic.

    "There were harsher comments from Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas: "The negotiations are in a state of paralysis, and the result of Israel's intransigence and America's backpedalling is that there is no hope of negotiations on the horizon.""

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A language of Papua New Guinea.
  2. 2
    Ab, the fifth month of the Babylonian calendar.
  3. 3
    A minor god of vegetation in Sumerian mythology.
  4. 4
    The ancient Egyptian name for the city of Elephantine, near modern day Aswan.
  5. 5
    A volcano on the island of Honshū in Japan.
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    Mount Abu, the highest mountain in the Indian state of Rajasthan.
  2. 7
    Abu, Yamaguchi, a town in Japan.

Example

More examples

"Abu al-Husayn ibn al-Rawandi, already in the ninth century, held that reason is man's exclusive guide to truth, a quest in which revelation is of no help."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Arabic أَبُو (ʔabū).

Etymology 2

From Akkadian 𒉈 (Abu). Compare Av.

Etymology 3

From Japanese 阿武 (Abu).

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.