سو

سَوّ • (saww) m

1. alternative form of سَوْء (sawʔ, “badness, evil, corruption”)

سَوِّ • (sawwi) (form II) /saw.wi/

1. second-person masculine singular imperative of سَوَّى (sawwā)

سو (countable and uncountable)

1. Arabic spelling of su (“water”)

Colloquial form of Arabic صُبْح (ṣubḥ), Persian صبح (sobh).

سو (sow)

1. morning

   سو زی بیدار ایبوم ― sow e zi bidar eybuom. ― I'll wake up early in the morning.

2. tomorrow

   سو ایرم هونه ― sow eirom howne. ― I'll go home tomorrow.

Colloquial form of سه (soh), ساو (sâv, “firewood, i.e. the usual desert-shrubs”), equivalent to Persian سوخت (sôxt, “combustion material, fuel”).

سو (sô)

1. firewood, i.e. the common desert-shrubs, thornbush
2. a hard-brushed broom

• Monchi-Zadeh, Davoud (1990), Wörter aus Xurāsān und ihre Herkunft (Acta Iranica; 29)‎^[1] (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 162 Nr. 478

Inherited from Proto-Dravidian [Term?]. Cognate to Tamil தூ (tū), ஊ (ū), Gondi సవి (savi).

سُو (sū)

1. flesh, meat

• Burrow, T.; Emeneau, M. B. (1984), “3373”, in A Dravidian etymological dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, →ISBN.

From Proto-Turkic *seb-.

سَو (sev)

1. (Volga Bulgar) to love, like

   عُلَمَا سَمنَ سَوَان مَسجِد سَمنَ عَمَارَة طَنَان اَكِل خَيرَاتلُ الُوى بَرَكاتلُ مُون سُوَار يَالِ [...] عَلىِ خوَاجَه آولِ آترَج خُواجَه آولِ آبُوبَكَر خُوَاجَه آولِ آلِبْ خُواجَه بَلُوى كُ ― 'Ulamâsemne sevên mescidsemne 'amâret tanân ekil hayrâtlu, elüwi berekâtlu Mûn Suwâr yêli [...] Ali howâce awli Atrac howâce awli Abûbeker howâce awli Alıp howâce belüwi kü. ― This is the monument of teacher [...] Ali's son teacher Atrac's son teacher Ebubeker's son teacher Alıp, who loves scholars and builds mosques, very beneficent, whose hands are fertile, who is descent from the big Suwâr clan.

• Chuvash: сав (sav)

• Hakimzjanov, Farid Sabirzjanovich (1986), “New Volga Bulgarian Inscriptions”, in Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae‎^[2] (in Bulgar), volume 40, number 1, page 174
• Tekin, Talât (1988), Volga Bulgar kitabeleri ve Volga Bulgarcası [Volga Bulgarian Ephitaphs and Volga Bulgarian Language]‎^[3] (in Turkish), Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, →ISBN, pages 190-191
• Erdal, Marcel (1993), Die Sprache der wolgabolgarischen Inschriften (in German), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, page 32

Inherited from Proto-Turkic *sub (“water”).

• سوو (suv), سوی (suy)

سو (su) (definite accusative سویی (suyi) or سونی (suni), plural سولار (sular))

1. water

   Synonyms: آب (āb), اوسون

   سو ایچماک ― su ičmäk ― to drink water

   اچیق سو ― ačiq su ― bitter watter

   سونینک تامغاسی ― suniŋ tamğasi ― surface of the water

   کمیت سو ― kämiyyät-i su ― the abundance of water

   سو ساچماق ― su sačmaq ― to sprinkle water

   شوردریانینک سویی، امّا دریانینک سویی شیرین‌دور

   šordäryāniŋ suyi ačiq, amma däryāniŋ suyi šīrīn

   water of the sea is bitter, but the water of the river is sweet

2. stream, river

   فرات سو ― furāt-i su ― the Euphrates river

3. body of water, such as a lake, sea or ocean

   Coordinate terms: تینکیز (teŋiz), کول (köl)

4. tear

   Synonyms: اشک (äšk), کوز یاشی (köz yaši), سرشک (sirišk), یاش (yaš)

سو in the sense "water" is uncountable, but has plural forms for other meanings.

• Uyghur: سۇ (su)
• Uzbek: suv

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• سوی

سو (so)

1. side, face

• Bahawudun, Muhemmettursun; Gheyurani, Ghenizat; Qadir, Isma'il; Ehet, Ablimit (2002), “سو”, in چاغاتاي تىلىنىڭ ئىزاھلىق لۇغىتى [Explanatory Dictionary of the Chagatai Language]‎^[9] (in Uyghur), Shinjang Xelq Neshriyati, →ISBN

From Proto-Turkic *sub (“water”).

سو (su) (Mamluk-Kipchak)

1. water

• Munytu'l-Ghuzāt: a 14th-century Mamluk-Kipchak military treatise
• Vocabulaire arabe-kiptchak de l'époque de l'État mamelouk

Compare Middle Persian swk' (sōg, “side, direction”), Persian سوی (suy).

سو (so)

1. ethnicity
2. breed, type

Compare Persian ساییدن (sâyidan), سابیدن (sâbidan), سودن (sudan, “to rub, to grind, to sharpen”).

سو (so)

1. grinding

   سو سنگ ― so-e seng ― grinding stone

2. sharpening

Related to سوسو (winking, burning), and dialectal Persian سو (su, “bright, shimmer, view”).

سو (su)

1. igniting

   سو هاکردن ― su hakerden ― to ignite

Readings
Classical reading?	sō, sū
Dari reading?	sō, sū
Iranian reading?	su
Tajik reading?	sü, su

From Middle Persian swk' (sōg, “side, direction”).

سو • (su)

1. alternative form of سوی (suy): direction, side

From Middle Persian swk' (sōg, “burning, combustion”). Related to سوختن (suxtan, “to burn”). Compare Mazanderani سو (su), سوسو (susu, “bright, illuminating”).

سو • (su)

1. (archaic) light, sight, ability to see
2. (Tehrani) shimmer, glitter, sight
3. (Isfahan) glitter, sight
4. (Fars) sight, opinion
5. (Khorasan) sight, glitter, view

Inherited from Middle Persian swk' (sōg, “profit, advantage”), or alternative form of سود (sud).

سو • (su, so)

1. profit
2. advantage

• MacKenzie, D. N. (1971), “swk'”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 75
• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1892), “سو”, in A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary, London: Routledge & K. Paul
• Vullers, Johann August (1856–1864), “سو”, in Lexicon Persico-Latinum etymologicum cum linguis maxime cognatis Sanscrita et Zendica et Pehlevica comparatum, e lexicis persice scriptis Borhâni Qâtiu, Haft Qulzum et Bahâri agam et persico-turcico Farhangi-Shuûrî confectum, adhibitis etiam Castelli, Meninski, Richardson et aliorum operibus et auctoritate scriptorum Persicorum adauctum‎^[10] (in Latin), volume II, Gießen: J. Ricker, page 340

سو (su)

1. water

• ABVD

From Sanskrit शत (śata).

سو • (sau)

1. hundred

سو (su)

1. Arabic spelling of su

Perhaps from Sanskrit सह (saha).

سو • (so) (Hindi spelling सो)

1. so, hence
2. therefore
3. consequently

• “سو”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971), “سو”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co., page 388

Inherited from Sanskrit शत (śata), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćatám, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm. Compare also Persian صد (sad).

Urdu numbers ^(edit)

		1,000
[a], [b] ←  90	[a], [b] ←  99	۱۰۰ 100	101  →	1,000  →
		10
Cardinal: سَو (sau), صَد (sad), سَین٘کڑا (sa͠ikṛā)     Ordinal: سَوواں (sauvā̃)     Multiplier: سَو گُنا (sau gunā)

سو • (sau) (Hindi spelling सौ)

1. hundred

• صد (sad)
• سینکڑا (saiṅkṛā)

• “سو”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “sau”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.