English
xu
Xu comes from Vietnamese xu ‘xu’, from Latin solidus ‘dense, solid, not hollow’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- ‘integrate, whole’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*solh₂-1‘integrate, whole’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*solh₂-i-dʰ-o-s1‘entire’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*soliðos1reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsolidus2‘dense, solid, not hollow’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEsoldus2
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsou3‘cent’
- Vietnamesemodernxu3‘xu; cent; penny’
- Englishtodayxu3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin solidus
- 2 Wiktionary, French sou
- 3 Wiktionary, English xu
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*solh₂-Wiktionary, Latin solidus‘integrate, whole’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*solh₂-i-dʰ-o-sWiktionary, Latin solidus‘entire’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*soliðosWiktionary, Latin solidusreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsolidusWiktionary, French sou‘dense, solid, not hollow’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEsoldusWiktionary, French sou
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsouWiktionary, English xu‘cent’
- VietnamesemodernxuWiktionary, English xu‘xu; cent; penny’
- EnglishtodayxuWiktionary, English xu
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- ‘integrate, whole’
save, safe, sold, salvation, holocaust, sage, salute, savior, salvage, salvo, salve, salvia, salutation, salutary, salubrious, 22 more
through Proto-Italic *soliðos
solidarity, consolidate, solidify, solidity, solidification, solidus, 6 more
through Latin solidus ‘dense, solid, not hollow’
through Late Latin soldus
through French sou ‘cent’
Today it means
noun A former unit of currency in Vietnam, equivalent to a hundredth of a dong.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “xu”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin solidus, French sou. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.