Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Mu |
MuNoun1. The 12th letter of the Greek alphabet. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
"Mu" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "the wood". |
Date "mu" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1916. (references) |
"Mu" is a common misspelling or typo for: me, mud, mug, mum, my. |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Mu /moo/ The correct answer to the classic trick question "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?". Assuming that you have no wife or you have never beaten your wife, the answer "yes" is wrong because it implies that you used to beat your wife and then stopped, but "no" is worse because it suggests that you have one and are still beating her. According to various Discordians and Douglas Hofstadter the correct answer is usually "mu", a Japanese word alleged to mean "Your question cannot be answered because it depends on incorrect assumptions". Hackers tend to be sensitive to logical inadequacies in language, and many have adopted this suggestion with enthusiasm. The word `mu' is actually from Chinese, meaning `nothing'; it is used in mainstream Japanese in that sense. Native speakers do not recognize the Discordian question-denying use, which almost certainly derives from overgeneralization of the answer in the following well-known Rinzai Zen koan: A monk asked Joshu, "Does a dog have the Buddha nature?" Joshu retorted, "Mu!" See also has the X nature, Some AI Koans, and Douglas Hofstadter's "Go"del, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" (pointer in the Bibliography in Appendix C. Source: Jargon File. |
Census | (Multi-unit) An economic census term designating a company that conducts its operations at two or more locations or has two or more separate and distinct activities at the same location. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The lower-case letter μ is used as a symbol for:
Mu is the name of a (hypothetical) vanished continent, located in the Pacific Ocean but now, like Atlantis and Lemuria, sunk beneath the waters. The idea of this continent first appeared in the works of the antiquitarian Augustus Le Plongeon (1826-1908), a 19th century traveler and writer who conducted his own investigations of the Maya ruins in Yucatán. He announced that he had translated the ancient Mayan writings, which supposedly showed that the Maya of Yucatán were older than the later civilizations of Atlantis and Egypt, and additionally told the story of an even older continent of Mu, which had foundered in a similar fashion to Atlantis, with the survivors founding the Maya civilisation. (Later students of the Ancient Maya writings believe that Le Plongeon's "translations" were based on little more than his vivid imagination. )
This lost continent was later popularised by James Churchward in a series of books, beginning with 'Lost Continent of Mu' (1926). The books still have devotees, but they are not considered serious archaeology, and nowadays are found in bookshops classed under `New Age' or `Religion and Spirituality'
Geologists maintain that we may be quite certain that no such Pacific continent existed. Continental masses are composed of the lighter "sial" (silicon/aluminum) type rocks which literally float on the heavier "sima" (silicon/magnesium) rocks which constitute ocean bottoms. The Pacific basin is noticeably lacking in sial rock. (See plate tectonics)
See also: lost cities and Phantom Islands.
Mu (無) is a Japanese word meaning "null", "nothing", "emptiness", "vaccum", "void". It is used as a response to certain koans and other philosophical questions in Zen Buddhism, with the meaning, "Your question is inherently nonsensical and irrelevant."
When the famous Zen master Joshu was asked, "Does a dog have Buddha nature?", he replied, "Mu."
Some earlier thinkers had maintained that creatures such as dogs did have the Buddha nature, others that they did not. Joshu sought to avoid this speculation by pointing out that it was a waste of time.
See also: two-letter English word
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mu."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
MU | Danish | Republikken Mauritius | Geography |
MU | Dutch | Republiek Mauritius | Geography |
MU | English | Murdoch University | N/A |
MU | Finnish | Mauritiuksen tasavalta | Geography |
MU | French | République de Maurice | Geography, Law |
MU | German | Maschinelle Übersetzung | N/A |
MU | Greek | Μαυρίκιος | Geography |
MU | Italian | Repubblica di Mauritius | Geography, Law |
MU | Portuguese | Maurícia | Geography |
MU | Spanish | Mauricio | Geography |
MU | Swedish | Republiken Mauritius | Geography |
| muon | English | Mu meson | Physics |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Crosswords: Mu |
| Specialty definitions using "mu": ADN cytoplasmique, AI koan, AI koans, almost certainly, almost everywhere, almost surely ♦ Buprenorphine ♦ catalyzed nuclear reaction, clay size, coal dust, cold fusion reaction ♦ film mica, filter cake, fine sand, fine silt ♦ has the X nature, Hexhlet sampler ♦ liptite ♦ microlithotype, micrometre, micronized mica, microspar, microvitrain, mil-foot, mineral fiber, multiple value ♦ Nalbuphine ♦ Otisca-T process ♦ Receptors, Opioid, Receptors, Opioid, mu, roof-to-floor convergence ♦ Seismitron, selective agglomeration, sparite, SU ♦ vernier-reading manometer. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Mu" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Albanian (bang, slap, smack), Czech (him), Dutch (mu), Estonian (my), Indonesian (your), Luganda (and, at the, in, in the, in, during, into, the), Portuguese (Mauritius, mule, Republic of Mauritius, usual forms of handling), Samoan (chess), Scottish (about, around; of, concerning, for, on account of), Spanish (moo), Swedish (moo). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I'm on vacation, man! and I want some mu shu. (Rush Hour 2; writing credit: Jeff Nathanson) Maybe some mu shu. (Rush Hour 2; writing credit: Jeff Nathanson) E, jebem li mu oca lopovskog (Maratonci trce pocasni krug; writing credit: Dusan Kovacevic) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Long mu xiang (1970) Fang Shi Yu san da mu ren xiang (1968) Bai mu mi zong zhang (1966) Ko puca otvorice mu se (1965) Mu ye en chou (1962) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Production. New Tennessee Valley Authority synthetic ammonia plant. Erection of a heater stack in the TVA's new synthetic ammonia plant in the Muscle Shoals area. Ammonia is made here by high-pressure synthesis of nitrogen and hydrogen and converted at Mu. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | It is unclear exactly what factors predispose to development of antibodies, but some studies suggest that risk is increased by the administration of more than 300 MU within a 30-day period and by low body weight of the patient. (references) | |
Business | Some, including Fang Jue, Shang Dewen, and Lin Mu had no action taken against them. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | China | Lin Mu, the former secretary of former reform-minded Communist Party boss Hu Yaobang, organized the letter campaign. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Mu" is generally used as an unclassified items -- approximately 50.29% of the time. "Mu" is used about 173 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Unclassified Items | 50.29% | 87 | 35,390 |
| Noun (singular) | 30.64% | 53 | 46,657 |
| Noun (proper) | 12.72% | 22 | 74,468 |
| Noun (common) | 6.36% | 11 | 106,044 |
| Total | 100.00% | 173 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "mu" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Mu | Last name | 300 | 29,923 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "mu": Bacteriophage mu ♦ mu factor ♦ mu meson. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "mu": mu-Chain, mu-factor, mu-law, mu-meson, mu-mesons, mu-negotiated, MU-Prolog, Mu-us. | |
Ending with "mu": e-mu. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
mu | 686 | mu ziq | 10 |
phi mu | 81 | 2 mitsubishi mu | 9 |
e mu | 62 | mu xin | 9 |
mu metal | 38 | mu shu | 9 |
sigma alpha mu | 31 | mu washington | 9 |
phi mu alpha | 26 | delta delta mu | 9 |
kang mu | 18 | phi mu fraternity | 9 |
mu sigma upsilon | 18 | aries de mu | 8 |
mu wa | 18 | e mu ram | 8 |
alpha mu theta | 17 | alpha gamma mu | 8 |
epsilon mu phi | 15 | e mu memory | 7 |
isuzu mu | 15 | phi mu delta | 7 |
mu mu | 13 | han mu | 7 |
lemuria mu | 13 | edu.tr mu | 7 |
mu tiger | 13 | gamma mu | 7 |
phi mu sorority | 13 | e mu audio production studio | 7 |
mu simple | 11 | mu stock | 7 |
mu online | 11 | direct mu | 7 |
phi mu alpha sinfonia | 10 | art landscape mu note painting prison xin | 7 |
mu planet | 10 | atlantis mu | 7 |
criticizes infineon mu | 7 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "mu"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 花木蘭 (Hua Mu Lan), (100 mu, a short while ago), 畹 (a field of 20 or 30 mu), 穆桂英 (Mu Gui Ying). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | myon (mu meson, muon), mu lov (law mu), spændingsfaktor (mu factor, voltage factor). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | mu (Mauritius, Republic of Mauritius). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | muo. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | myoni (mu meson, muon), mu-sääntö (law mu), μ-mesoni (mu meson, muon). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | muon (mu meson, muon), loi mu (law mu), facteur d'amplification relatif deux électrodes (mu factor). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Myon (mu meson, muon, muscle fibre), *-Faktor (mu factor, voltage factor). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | μι (me). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | súrlódási tényezõ (coefficient of friction, mu-factor). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | muone (mu meson, muon), fattore di amplificazione tra due elettrodi (mu factor, voltage factor). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | umay muão (mu meson, muon), lei mu (law mu), factor de tensão (mu factor, stressor, voltage factor). (various references) seach (a turn, alteration : fa seach, aside, away, by, gone by). (various references) muón (mu meson, muon), ley mu (law mu), factor de tensión (mu factor, voltage factor). (various references) myon (mu meson, muon), spänningsförstärkningsfaktor (mu factor, voltage factor). (various references) ตัวอักษรลำ"ับที่ 12 ของกรีก. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "mu": much, muchacho, muchachos, muches, muchly, muchness, muchnesses, mucid, mucidities, mucidity, mucilage, mucilages, mucilaginous, mucilaginously, mucin, mucinoid, mucinous, mucins, muck, muckamuck, muckamucks, mucked, mucker, muckers, muckier, muckiest, muckily, mucking, muckle, muckles, muckluck, mucklucks, muckrake, muckraked, muckraker, muckrakers, muckrakes, muckraking, mucks, muckworm, muckworms, mucky, mucluc, muclucs, mucocutaneous, mucoid, mucoidal, mucoids, mucolytic, mucopeptide, mucopeptides. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "mu": amu, emu, mumu. (additional references) | |
Words containing "mu": accumulate, accumulated, accumulates, accumulating, accumulation, accumulations, accumulative, accumulatively, accumulativeness, accumulativenesses, accumulator, accumulators, almuce, almuces, almud, almude, almudes, almuds, almug, almugs, altazimuth, altazimuths, altocumuli, altocumulus, ammunition, ammunitions, amuck, amucks, amulet, amulets, amus, amusable, amuse, amused, amusedly, amusement, amusements, amuser, amusers, amuses, amusia, amusias, amusing, amusingly, amusingness, amusingnesses, amusive, animus, animuses, anticommunism, anticommunisms. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: um. | |
| Words containing the letters "m-u" | |
+1 letter: amu, bum, cum, emu, gum, hum, lum, mud, mug, mum, mun, mus, mut, rum, sum, umm, ump, yum. | |
+2 letters: alum, amus, arum, bumf, bump, bums, chum, culm, doum, drum, duma, dumb, dump, emeu, emus, fume, fumy, gaum, geum, glum, grum, gums, hump, hums, jump, lump, lums, maud, maul, maun, maut, menu, meou, moue, much, muck, muds, muff, mugg, mugs, mule, mull, mumm, mump, mums, mumu, muni, muns, muon, mura, mure, murk, murr, muse, mush, musk, muss, must, mute, muts, mutt, neum, numb, ovum, plum, puma, pump, rump, rums, scum, slum, smug, smut, stum, sumo, sump, sums, swum, tump, umbo, umps. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4D 75 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-- ..- |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001101 01110101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)M u |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)004D 0075 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)4787 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Names: Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Abbreviations | 13. Acronyms 14. Derivations 15. Anagrams 16. Orthography | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
