"ou" meaning in English

See ou in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈəʊ.uː/ [UK] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ou.wav [Southern-England] Forms: ous [plural]
Rhymes: -əʊuː Etymology: From Hawaiian ʻōʻū. Etymology templates: {{der|en|haw|ʻōʻū|}} Hawaiian ʻōʻū Head templates: {{en-noun}} ou (plural ous)
  1. A probably extinct species of Hawaiian honeycreeper, Psittirostra psittacea. Translations (extinct honeycreeper): 鸚嘴雀 /鹦嘴雀 (yīngzuǐquè) (Chinese Mandarin), šatovník papouščí (Czech), psittirostre psittacin [masculine] (French), ʻōʻū (Hawaiian), 오우 (ou) (Korean), оу (ou) (Russian)
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Noun

IPA: /əʊ/ [General-South-African, UK], /oʊ/ [US] Forms: ous [plural], ouens [plural]
Rhymes: -əʊ Etymology: From Afrikaans ou, probably from Dutch ouwe (“old man”). Etymology templates: {{der|en|af|ou}} Afrikaans ou, {{der|en|nl|oud|ouwe|old man}} Dutch ouwe (“old man”) Head templates: {{en-noun|s|ouens}} ou (plural ous or ouens)
  1. (South Africa, colloquial) A fellow, guy, bloke. Tags: South-Africa, colloquial
    Sense id: en-ou-en-noun-XZoPYLWs Categories (other): South African English, English 2-letter words, English entries with incorrect language header, True finches Disambiguation of English 2-letter words: 20 80 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 21 79 Disambiguation of True finches: 31 69
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "ʻōʻū",
      "ʻōʻū#Hawaiian"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "haw",
        "3": "ʻōʻū",
        "4": ""
      },
      "expansion": "Hawaiian ʻōʻū",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Hawaiian ʻōʻū.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ous",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "ou (plural ous)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Czech translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hawaiian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Korean translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A probably extinct species of Hawaiian honeycreeper, Psittirostra psittacea."
      ],
      "id": "en-ou-en-noun-8GYinuCf",
      "links": [
        [
          "honeycreeper",
          "honeycreeper"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "lang_code": "cmn",
          "roman": "yīngzuǐquè",
          "sense": "extinct honeycreeper",
          "word": "鸚嘴雀 /鹦嘴雀"
        },
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "lang_code": "cs",
          "sense": "extinct honeycreeper",
          "word": "šatovník papouščí"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "extinct honeycreeper",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "psittirostre psittacin"
        },
        {
          "code": "haw",
          "lang": "Hawaiian",
          "lang_code": "haw",
          "sense": "extinct honeycreeper",
          "word": "ʻōʻū"
        },
        {
          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "lang_code": "ko",
          "roman": "ou",
          "sense": "extinct honeycreeper",
          "word": "오우"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "ou",
          "sense": "extinct honeycreeper",
          "word": "оу"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈəʊ.uː/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ou.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/43/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ou.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ou.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/43/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ou.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ou.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-əʊuː"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ou"
}

{
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "ou",
      "ou#Afrikaans"
    ],
    [
      "ouwe",
      "oud#Dutch"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "af",
        "3": "ou"
      },
      "expansion": "Afrikaans ou",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "nl",
        "3": "oud",
        "4": "ouwe",
        "5": "old man"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch ouwe (“old man”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Afrikaans ou, probably from Dutch ouwe (“old man”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ous",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ouens",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "s",
        "2": "ouens"
      },
      "expansion": "ou (plural ous or ouens)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 20th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "South African English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "20 80",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English 2-letter words",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "21 79",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "True finches",
          "orig": "en:True finches",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              22,
              24
            ],
            [
              67,
              69
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1962, Jeremy Taylor, “Ag Pleez Deddy”:",
          "text": "Ag pleez Deddy won't you take us to the wrestling\n We wanna see an ou called Sky High Lee",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              25,
              28
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1975, Sheila Roberts, Outside Life's Feast: Short Stories, Johannesburg: Ad. Donker, →ISBN, page 27:",
          "text": "I couldn't care that the ous call me rooinek and sometimes whiterat because of my hair and face. At least I am not a hairyback I tell them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              33,
              36
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1978, André Brink, Rumours of Rain, Vintage, published 2000, page 292:",
          "text": "“They're the same good and solid ous they'd been before. Because they managed not to think.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A fellow, guy, bloke."
      ],
      "id": "en-ou-en-noun-XZoPYLWs",
      "links": [
        [
          "fellow",
          "fellow"
        ],
        [
          "guy",
          "guy"
        ],
        [
          "bloke",
          "bloke"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(South Africa, colloquial) A fellow, guy, bloke."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "South-Africa",
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/əʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-South-African",
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/oʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-əʊ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ou"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-letter words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English nouns with irregular plurals",
    "English terms derived from Afrikaans",
    "English terms derived from Dutch",
    "English terms derived from Hawaiian",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 34 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/əʊ",
    "Rhymes:English/əʊ/1 syllable",
    "Rhymes:English/əʊuː",
    "Rhymes:English/əʊuː/2 syllables",
    "Terms with Czech translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Hawaiian translations",
    "Terms with Korean translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "en:True finches"
  ],
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "ʻōʻū",
      "ʻōʻū#Hawaiian"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "haw",
        "3": "ʻōʻū",
        "4": ""
      },
      "expansion": "Hawaiian ʻōʻū",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Hawaiian ʻōʻū.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ous",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "ou (plural ous)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Entries using missing taxonomic name (species)"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A probably extinct species of Hawaiian honeycreeper, Psittirostra psittacea."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "honeycreeper",
          "honeycreeper"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈəʊ.uː/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ou.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/43/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ou.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ou.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/43/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ou.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ou.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-əʊuː"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "yīngzuǐquè",
      "sense": "extinct honeycreeper",
      "word": "鸚嘴雀 /鹦嘴雀"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "lang_code": "cs",
      "sense": "extinct honeycreeper",
      "word": "šatovník papouščí"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "extinct honeycreeper",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "psittirostre psittacin"
    },
    {
      "code": "haw",
      "lang": "Hawaiian",
      "lang_code": "haw",
      "sense": "extinct honeycreeper",
      "word": "ʻōʻū"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "lang_code": "ko",
      "roman": "ou",
      "sense": "extinct honeycreeper",
      "word": "오우"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "ou",
      "sense": "extinct honeycreeper",
      "word": "оу"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ou"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-letter words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English nouns with irregular plurals",
    "English terms derived from Afrikaans",
    "English terms derived from Dutch",
    "Pages with 34 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/əʊ",
    "Rhymes:English/əʊ/1 syllable",
    "en:True finches"
  ],
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "ou",
      "ou#Afrikaans"
    ],
    [
      "ouwe",
      "oud#Dutch"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "af",
        "3": "ou"
      },
      "expansion": "Afrikaans ou",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "nl",
        "3": "oud",
        "4": "ouwe",
        "5": "old man"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch ouwe (“old man”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Afrikaans ou, probably from Dutch ouwe (“old man”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ous",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ouens",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "s",
        "2": "ouens"
      },
      "expansion": "ou (plural ous or ouens)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 20th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "South African English"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              22,
              24
            ],
            [
              67,
              69
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1962, Jeremy Taylor, “Ag Pleez Deddy”:",
          "text": "Ag pleez Deddy won't you take us to the wrestling\n We wanna see an ou called Sky High Lee",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              25,
              28
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1975, Sheila Roberts, Outside Life's Feast: Short Stories, Johannesburg: Ad. Donker, →ISBN, page 27:",
          "text": "I couldn't care that the ous call me rooinek and sometimes whiterat because of my hair and face. At least I am not a hairyback I tell them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              33,
              36
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1978, André Brink, Rumours of Rain, Vintage, published 2000, page 292:",
          "text": "“They're the same good and solid ous they'd been before. Because they managed not to think.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A fellow, guy, bloke."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fellow",
          "fellow"
        ],
        [
          "guy",
          "guy"
        ],
        [
          "bloke",
          "bloke"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(South Africa, colloquial) A fellow, guy, bloke."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "South-Africa",
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/əʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-South-African",
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/oʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-əʊ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ou"
}

Download raw JSONL data for ou meaning in English (5.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-10-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.