Chou

//ʃuː// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Choux pastry, usually in the form of a small round cake with a sweet filling.
  2. 2
    puff filled with cream or custard wordnet
  3. 3
    A bunch, knot, or rosette of ribbon or other material, used as an ornament in women's clothing.

    "Medium sized chous, or rosettes of the ribbon finish the trimming at bottom of chest opening, and at the waist points back and front."

  4. 4
    any of various types of cabbage wordnet
  5. 5
    the imperial dynasty of China from 1122 to 221 BC; notable for the rise of Confucianism and Taoism wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A common Chinese surname

    "During the more than fifteen hours of formal talks I had with Chou we covered a wide range of issues and ideas. Since all our discussions during this trip were so frank, it was understandable that the Chinese were nervous about the possibility of leaks. I am sure that Chou had no trouble imagining the propaganda use the Kremlin would have for the transcripts of our talks."

  2. 2
    Dated form of Zhou (“dynasty, realm and era”). alt-of, dated

    "Chou: at first a principality in South Shen Si and part of Kan Suh, subject to Shang dynasty; afterwards the imperial dynasty itself. Ts‘in: principality west of the above. When the Chou dynasty moved its capital east into Ho Nan, Ts‘in took possession of the old Chou principality. Tsin: principality (same family as Chou) in South Shan Si (and in part of Shen Si at times)."

Example

More examples

"Medium sized chous, or rosettes of the ribbon finish the trimming at bottom of chest opening, and at the waist points back and front."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From French chou (“cabbage”); compare French pâte à choux (“choux pastry”). Doublet of caulis, cole, and kale.

Etymology 2

From Mandarin 周 (Zhōu), Wade–Giles romanization: Chou¹.

Related phrases

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