Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

zhu

/d͡ʒuː/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.12 in modern English

Syllables: zhu
IPA: /d͡ʒuː/

15

Scrabble Score

3

Letters

1

Syllables

3

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An ancient Chinese unit of weight, notionally equivalent to 100 millet seeds or 1/24 of the liang/tael/Chinese ounce, chiefly used in denominating small coins in ancient and early imperial China.

noun

An ancient Chinese string instrument thought to have had a rectangular zither-like body with silk strings played with a bow.

name

A surname from Chinese.

Example Sentences

"Modern research showed the correct number of millet seeds greatly exceeded surviving examples of the zhu in weight, until one tried growing older millet strains for several generations without modern agrochemicals. By the third year, his seeds produced a zhu within about 5% of its known historical value."

Etymology

The atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 銖 /铢 (zhū).

Origin

Source language: Chinese

Word Breakdown

Root: -, 銖, 筑

Inflected Forms

zhus (plural) tcho (alternative) Chu (alternative) Choo (alternative) Tu (alternative)

Frequently Paired Words

sanzhu wuzhu Chau Ju Joo Shu

Homonyms

jew ju dew

Rhymes With

to you do who to-do new two too through few true due

Questions

How do you pronounce zhu?: The recorded pronunciation is /d͡ʒuː/.
What does zhu mean?: An ancient Chinese unit of weight, notionally equivalent to 100 millet seeds or 1/24 of the liang/tael/Chinese ounce, chiefly used in denominating small coins in ancient and early imperial China.
Where does zhu come from?: It is traced to Chinese.

How to pronounce zhu

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “zhu”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/d͡ʒuː/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “zhu”.
Repeat and practice — Say “zhu” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.