mu
/mjuː/noun, interjection
mu is spelled M-U: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.9 times per million words in written English, the 11,373rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, mu means “The 12th letter of the Modern Greek alphabet” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mu is mus.
How many letters and syllables are in mu?
| Letters | 2: M-U |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.9 times per million words; the 11,373rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is mu?
Mu appears 4.9 times per million words in written English, the 11,373rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce mu?
- /mjuː/
- /muː/
As an interjection (“Neither yes nor no”): /muː/, /mjuː/, /muː/.
Mu has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-mu.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with mu
Sounds like: mew (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with mu?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as mu from its last stressed vowel (/u/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of mu
- mus plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mu mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The 12th letter of the Modern Greek alphabet.
- 2
Nothingness; nonexistence; the illusory nature of reality.
- 3
A unit of surface area, currently equivalent to two-thirtieths of a hectare.
interjection
- 1
Neither yes nor no.
noun
- 1
μ (a mu particle)
noun
- 1
Initialism of matchup.
- 2
Initialism of multiple unit.
- 3
slangInitialism of mutual understanding
- 4
slangA person engaged in a situationship
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mu in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Greek letter:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does mu come from?
From Ancient Greek μῦ (mû), derived from Phoenician 𐤌𐤌 (mm /mem/, “water”). Doublet of mem.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).