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tau - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

  • ️Mon Jul 03 2023

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Ancient Greek alphabet
←
sigma
 →
upsilon
Τ τ

Ancient Greek: ταῦ

Wikipedia article on tau

From Middle English tau, taue, from Latin tau, from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû) and Hebrew תָּו (tav).

Sense 6 (“mathematical constant equal to 2π”) was used by Joseph M. Lindenberg in 1991, and popularized by the American educator and entrepreneur Michael Hartl in a 2010 paper which explains that τ resembles π; and that τ is the Greek equivalent of t, the first letter of turn, and 2π corresponds to one turn of a circle with a radius of one unit.[1]

Sense 8.1 (“short for tau lepton or tau particle”) was coined by the American physicist Martin Lewis Perl (1927–2014) after the first letter of Ancient Greek τρίτον (tríton, “third”), since the tau lepton or tauon was the third charged lepton discovered.[2]

tau (plural taus)

  2. The letter Τ / τ in the Greek alphabet; being the nineteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek, and the twenty-first letter of the Old and Ancient Greek alphabets.
  3. Alternative form of taw; the 22nd and last letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic.

    • 1847, Richard Edmund Tyrwhitt, Sermons Chiefly Expository, volume I, Oxford: John Henry Parker; F[rancis] and J[ohn] Rivington, London, page 366:

      Hence it appears that the spits, or skewers, on which and to which the lamb was fixed and fastened in order to be roasted, assumed the form of a cross, not such a tau-cross as is engraved in Dr. Oliver’s Historical Landmarks of Freemasonry, vol. i. p. 80. having three arms only like the Greek letter tau; but a cross like the ancient Hebrew tau, with four arms, though not necessarily all of equal length.

    • 1851, D[aniel] Rock, Hierurgia; or Transubstantiation, Invocation of Saints, Relics, and Purgatory, Besides Those Other Articles of Doctrine Set Forth in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Expounded; […], 2nd edition, London: C. Dolman, […], page 350:

      In the Spanish translation of Sallust, by the Infant Don Gabriel in 1772, called the Infant Sallust, there is a curious dissertation by Father Perez Bayer on the resemblance between the ancient Hebrew and Phœnician alphabets, in which it is observed that the Hebrew Tau was written in pure Phœnician, […]

    • 2017, Piers Vaughan, Capitular Development Course, 2nd edition, Rose Circle Publications, →ISBN, page 135:

      The tau is both the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, and also the 22nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In this context, the Hebrew tau or tav is more pertinent.

  5. A Τ-shaped object or sign; a Saint Anthony's cross, sometimes regarded as a sacred symbol.

    • 1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter I.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 96:

      Nor ſhall we take in the myſticall Tau, or the Croſſe of our bleſſed Saviour, which having in ſome deſcriptions an Empedon or croſſing foot-ſtay, made not one ſingle tranſverſion.

    1. (Christianity) A crosier with a Τ-shaped head.
  6. The ankh symbol (☥).
    Synonym: crux ansata
  7. (astronomy) Chiefly written τ: used to designate the nineteenth star (usually according to brightness) in a constellation.
  8. (finance) A measurement of the sensitivity of the value of an option to changes in the implied volatility of the price of the underlying asset.
    Synonyms: kappa, vega
    Hypernym: Greeks (includes a list of coordinate terms)
  10. (mathematics, neologism) Chiefly written τ: an irrational and transcendental constant representing the ratio of the circumference of a Euclidean circle to its radius, equal to twice the value of pi (2π; approximately 6.2831853071).
  12. (neurology) Short for tau protein (“a protein abundant especially in the neurons of the human central nervous system that stabilizes microtubules, and when misfolded is associated with forms of dementia such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases”).
  13. (physics) Chiefly written τ.
    1. Short for tau lepton or tau particle (“an unstable elementary particle which is a type of lepton, having a mass almost twice that of a proton, a negative charge, and a spin of ½; it decays into hadrons (usually pions) or other leptons, and neutrinos; a tauon”).
    2. (historical) Short for tau meson, now known as a kaon.

the letter Τ / τ in the Greek alphabet

a letter of many Semitic alphabets — see taw

crosier with a Τ-shaped head

used to designate the nineteenth (usually the nineteenth brightest) star in a constellation

irrational and transcendental constant equal to twice the value of pi

short for tau lepton or tau particle — see tauon

short for tau meson — see also kaon

  1. ^ Michael Hartl (2010 June 28) “The Tau Manifesto”, in Tauday.com‎[1], archived from the original on 30 January 2022, section 4.1 (One Turn):

    There are two main reasons to use τ for the circle constant. The first is that τ visually resembles π: after centuries of use, the association of π with the circle constant is unavoidable, […] The second reason is that τ corresponds to one turn of a circle, and you may have noticed that “τ” and “turn” both start with a “t” sound.
  2. ^ Martin L[ewis] Perl (1977 April) Evidence for, and Properties of, the New Charged Heavy Lepton (SLAC-PUB-1923)‎[2], archived from the original on 9 July 2021, section 1 (Introduction), page 3; published in Trần Thanh Vân, editor, Proceedings of the Twelfth Rencontre de Moriond: Flaine, Haute-Savoie, France, March, 6–18, 1977 (Moriond Proceedings; 19), volumes 1 (Leptons and Multileptons), Orsay, Paris: Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Particules Elémentaires [Laboratory of Theoretical Physics and Elementary Particles], Université de Paris-Sud, 1977, →OCLC, pages 75–97:

    Since there is now substantial evidence that it [the new elementary particle] is a lepton, we wish to designate it by a lower case Greek letter. We use {\displaystyle \tau ^{\pm }} because it appears to be the third charged lepton to be found and τριτον means third in Greek. We feel the old use of {\displaystyle \tau } to designate the three pion decay mode of the K is now obsolete.

tau

  1. to give

tau f (plural taus)

  1. Tau; the Greek letter Τ (lowercase τ)
  2. tav; the Hebrew letter ת
  3. (religion) a tau cross

tau n (indeclinable)

  1. tau (Greek letter)
  • “tau”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
  • tau in Akademický slovník cizích slov, 1995, at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz

From Middle Dutch tau, thau, from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû). Doublet of taw, tav.

tau n (plural taus, diminutive tautje n)

  1. tau (Greek letter)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû).

Greek letter
Ττ Previous: sigma
Next: ypsilon
  • IPA(key): /ˈtɑu̯/, [ˈt̪ɑ̝u̯]
  • Rhymes: -ɑu
  • Hyphenation(key): tau

tau

  1. tau (Greek letter)
  2. tauon, tau (elementary particle)

(compounds):

tau m (plural tau or taus)

  1. tau (Greek letter)
  2. (physics) tau, tauon
  • IPA(key): /ˈtaw/ [ˈt̪ɑw]
  • Rhymes: -aw
  • Hyphenation: tau

tau m (plural taus)

  1. tau (name of the Greek letter Τ, τ)
  • to (in some dialects)

Middle Low German tô.

tau

  1. (in some dialects) to

tau

  1. sun

From Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû).

  • IPA(key): [ˈtɒu]
  • Hyphenation: tau
  • Rhymes: -u

tau (plural tauk)

  1. tau (Greek letter)
A user suggests that this Iban entry be cleaned up, giving the reason: “this means "ought, should" but it's listed as an alternative form in tauk which in that entry it means "to know"”.
Please see the discussion on Requests for cleanup(+) or the talk page for more information and remove this template after the problem has been dealt with.

tau

  1. ought, should

Borrowed from Danish tøj.

tau n (genitive singular taus, no plural)

  1. fabric
  2. clothing

tau

  1. (colloquial) Alternative form of tahu (“to know”)

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû).

tau

  1. tau (the letter Τ / τ in the Greek alphabet; being the nineteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek, and the twenty-first letter of the Old and Ancient Greek alphabets)
  • IPA(key): /ˈtaw/
  • Rhymes: -aw
  • Hyphenation: tàu

tau m or f (invariable)

  1. tau (Greek letter)

tau

  1. Rōmaji transcription of たう

tau

  1. person

    na tau na pa-hi dà-nggu

    the person that I cried with
  • Marian Klamer (1998) A Grammar of Kambera, Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 328

From Proto-Philippine *tau, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Austronesian *Cau.

  • IPA(key): /ˈtau/ [ˈtäː.u]
  • Hyphenation: ta‧u

táu

  1. person; human; man
  2. someone; people; human being
  3. boyfriend; girlfriend; lover
  • IPA(key): /təˈu/ [təˈuː]
  • Hyphenation: ta‧u

taú

  1. feast; party; banquet

tau

  1. three

tau

  1. second-person singular dative of tu
  • IPA(key): /ˈtau/, [ˈt̪ʰa.u]
  • Hyphenation: ta‧u

From Inherited from Proto-South Sulawesi *tau, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Austronesian *Cau.

tau (Lontara spelling ᨈᨕᨘ)

  1. people, person, man
  2. slave, laborer, coolie

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqu, from Proto-Austronesian *Caqu (“to know how, be able to, be skilled at”).

tau (Lontara spelling ᨈᨕᨘ)

  1. friendly, amicably, being familiar with someone.
  2. tame, domesticated

tau (Lontara spelling ᨈᨕᨘ)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
  • A. A. Cense (2024) Makassaars-Nederlands woordenboek‎[4], Brill, →DOI

From Proto-Malayic *tahu(ʔ), from Proto-Malayo-Chamic, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqu, from Proto-Austronesian *Caqu.

tau

  1. (informal) Alternative form of tahu (“to know”)

Borrowed from English tau, from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû).

tau (Jawi spelling تاو, plural tau-tau, informal 1st possessive tauku, 2nd possessive taumu, 3rd possessive taunya)

  1. the Greek letter tau (Τ or τ)

From Proto-Polynesian *taqu (compare Hawaiian kau), from Proto-Oceanic, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqun (compare Malay tahun, Tagalog taón).

tau

  1. year (time it takes for the Earth to complete one revolution of the Sun)
  2. year (time it takes for any planetary body to make one revolution around another body)
  3. year (a period between set dates that mark a year)
  4. year (scheduled part of a calendar year spent in a specific activity)
  5. year (Julian year)
  6. year (level or grade at school or college)

From Proto-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Oceanic, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taʀuq (compare Malay taruh).

tau

  1. to settle

From Proto-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Oceanic, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqu, from Proto-Austronesian *Caqu (compare Malay tahu).

tau (used in the form mātau)

  1. knowledge

tau (used in the form mātau)

  1. (stative) to know
  • “tau” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.

From Proto-Malayic *tahu(ʔ), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqu, from Proto-Austronesian *Caqu.

tau

  1. to know
  • Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*Caqu”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

From Proto-Polynesian *taqu, from Proto-Oceanic, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqun.

tau

  1. year

From Proto-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Oceanic, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taʀuŋ.

tau

  1. fight
North Frisian numbers (edit)
20
 ←  1 2 3  → 
    Cardinal: tau
    Ordinal: naist, öler
North Frisian cardinal numbers
 <  1 2 3  > 
    Cardinal : tau
    Ordinal : taust

From Old Frisian twā.

tau (Föhr-Amrum, Sylt, Heligoland)

  1. two

Cardinal numbers from 1 till 99 (Föhr-Amrum dialect)

From Proto-Germanic *þwahaną.

tau

  1. (Föhr-Amrum) to wash

Conjugation of tau (Föhr-Amrum dialect)

infinitive I tau
infinitive II (tu) tauen
past participle twaanjen
imperative singular tau
imperative plural tau’m
  present past
1st singular tau twuch
2nd singular twaist twuchst
3rd singular twait twuch
plural tau twuch
  perfect pluperfect
1st singular haa twaanjen hed twaanjen
2nd singular heest twaanjen hedst twaanjen
3rd singular hee twaanjen hed twaanjen
plural haa twaanjen hed twaanjen
  future (skel) future (wel)
1st singular skal tau wal tau
2nd singular skääl tau wääl tau
3rd singular skal tau wal tau
plural skel tau wel tau

From Old Norse tog (rope).

tau n (definite singular tauet, indefinite plural tau, definite plural taua or tauene)

  1. a rope
  2. (physics) tau lepton
  3. tau (Greek letter)

tau

  1. imperative of taue

From earlier and Old Norse tog (“rope”), from Proto-Germanic *taugō.

tau n (definite singular tauet, indefinite plural tau, definite plural taua)

  1. a rope

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû).

tau m (definite singular tauen, indefinite plural tauar, definite plural tauane)

  1. tau: The letter Τ/τ in the Greek, Hebrew and ancient Semitic alphabets, being the nineteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek, the twenty-first letter of Old and Ancient Greek.
  2. (physics) tau lepton

From Latin talis.

tau m (feminine singular tala, masculine plural taus, feminine plural talas)

  1. (Gascony, Provençal, Limousin, Vivaro-alpine, Auvergne) such

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû), from Phoenician 𐤕 (t /⁠taw⁠/).

  • IPA(key): /ˈtaw/
  • Rhymes: -aw
  • Syllabification: tau

tau n (indeclinable)

  1. tau (Greek letter Τ, τ)
  • tau in Polish dictionaries at PWN

tau m (plural taus)

  1. tau (name of the Greek letter Τ, τ)
  2. (physics) tauon

tau class 9/10 (plural ditau)

  1. lion
  • IPA(key): /ˈtau/ [ˈt̪au̯]
  • Rhymes: -au
  • Syllabification: tau

tau f (plural taus)

  1. tau; the Greek letter Τ, τ
  2. tauon (elementary particle)
    Synonym: tauón

tau (Baybayin spelling ᜆᜌᜓ) (text messaging)

  1. Abbreviation of tayo.

tau

  1. some

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tau.

  • (Sinūgan Parianun) IPA(key): /taʔu/ [t̪aˈʔu]
  • Rhymes: -u
  • Syllabification: ta‧u

tau (Sulat Sūg spelling تَؤُ)

  1. person
  2. human

tau

  1. to pull
  • Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taʀuq, compare Maori tau and Indonesian taruh.

tau

  1. to put, to place

From Middle Chinese 斗 (MC tuwX).[1][2]

tau ? sg (irregular plural towä or tom or taum)

  1. a dry measure, roughly equivalent to ten quarts or 1.25 pecks
  1. ^ Adams, Douglas Q. (1999) “tau”, in A dictionary of Tocharian B (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, →ISBN
  2. ^

    2003, Alexander Lubotsky, Sergey Starostin, “Turkic and Chinese loan words in Tocharian”, in Bauer, Brigitte L.M., Pinault, Georges-Jean, editors, Language in Time and Space: A Festschrift for Werner Winter on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday, pages 257-269:
  • IPA(key): [ˈta.u]
  • Hyphenation: ta‧u

From Proto-Polynesian *te-qa-u.

tau

  1. (alienable, definite) thy, your

From Proto-Polynesian *taqu. Cognates include Hawaiian kau and Samoan tau.

tau

  1. season
  2. weather
  3. climate

From Proto-Polynesian *tau. Cognates include Tongan tou and Samoan tau.

tau

  1. (transitive) to pick
  • tau is used to refer to flowers and fruits, with the exception of the coconut and pandanus.

From Proto-Polynesian *tau. Cognates include Tongan tau and Samoan tau.

tau

  1. (intransitive) to fight; to quarrel
  2. (intransitive) to compete

From Proto-Polynesian *tau. Cognates include Maori tau and Samoan tau.

tau (plural tatau)

  1. (intransitive) to hit
  2. (intransitive) to land
  3. (intransitive) to arrive
  4. (intransitive) to anchor
  5. (intransitive, of fish) to settle down

From Proto-Polynesian *tau. Cognates include Tuvaluan tau and Samoan tau.

tau

  1. (transitive, of months) to count

From Proto-Polynesian *tau. Cognates include Rapa tau and Samoan tau.

tau

  1. The point where the keel meets the stern of the canoe.

tau

  1. Fresh nest fern leaves, used to cover a traditional oven.

tau

  1. Used to indicate the exclusiveness of the following noun or pronoun; just, only, merely

tau

  1. Used to indicate the focus lies on the following noun; concerning, regarding

tau

  1. Used to indicate that the action of the following verb is beginning; starting to; beginning to

tau

  1. Only used in tau ma (“to be fed up with”)
  • R. Simona, editor (1986), Tokelau Dictionary‎[5], Auckland: Office of Tokelau Affairs, page 342

From Proto-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taʀuŋ.

tau

  1. fight

tau class 9/10 (plural ditau)

  1. lion

tau

  1. North Central Vietnam form of tao (“I/me”)

tau

  1. (literary) third-person singular present indicative/future of tewi

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *təuk, from Old Chinese 得 (OC *tɯːɡ).[1]

tau

  1. to get, gain, obtain
  2. (used preverbally) perfective action marker
    Kuv tsis tau ua. ― I didn't do that.
  3. (used postverbally) potential mood marker
    Ua tau. ― May be done.
  • Heimbach, Ernest E. (1979) White Hmong — English Dictionary‎[6], SEAP Publications, →ISBN.
  1. ^ Ratliff, Martha (2010) Hmong-Mien language history (Studies in Language Change; 8), Camberra, Australia: Pacific Linguistics, →ISBN, page 254; 283.

tau

  1. fire