nu

/ˈnu/

//ˈnu// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“nu” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #5,663) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#5,663
frequency rank, Portuguese
360
“N” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - despido, em pelo, sem roupas

Corpus desk

Index PT-nu · nu · Portuguese

nu · rank #5,663 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,663
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 360
  • PHOTO-FINISH national

Nearest frequency peer: national (-2 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Vizinhos de frequência do confusável “nu”

Pares de peso semelhante no corpus, aparte dos confusáveis abaixo

corpus weight

What this shows As barras situam “nu” face aos lemas portugueses mais próximos por rank, não um reprint da secretária de confusáveis.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

nu vs num
67% similar
nu vs nua
67% similar
nu vs nur
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for nu
PropertyValue
Headwordnu
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈnu/
Letters2
Frequency rank#5,663
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rank de corpus junto a confusáveis de “nu”

A frequência vai do punhado de palavras do dia a dia (esquerda) à cauda longa quase nunca usada (direita).nucai aqui:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

A escala é logarítmica (cada marca ≈ 10× mais rara). Na mesma faixa de raridade aparecem “national” (#5,661), “onze” (#5,665), “mortas” (#5,659). Entre 360 lemas com “N”, “nu” fica em #5,663. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for nu is neighbouring look-alikes ("num", "nua", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced /ˈnu/. Frequency #5,663 among 360 “N” headwords. 6 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for nu, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "num", "nua", "nur", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct Portuguese form is nu, spelled N-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    despido, em pelo, sem roupas
  2. 2
    sem adornos
  3. 3
    desprovido do necessário
  4. 4
    direto, claro, franco
  5. 5
    retirado da bainha (espada, adaga)
  6. 6
    descoberto, à mostra, sem disfarces

Antonyms

vestido

This word in other languages

nude(English)desnudo(Español)nu(Français)bloß(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "nu"?
"nu" is spelled N-U. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈnu/.
What does "nu" mean?
As an adjective, "nu" means: despido, em pelo, sem roupas
What words are commonly confused with "nu"?
"nu" is commonly confused with "num", "nua", "nur". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "nu"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "nu" is /ˈnu/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "nu" come from?
"nu" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list