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lulu

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lulu¹

  • /ˈluːlu/

Rhymes with -uːlu

Where it comes from

Probably from American stage magician Lulu Hurst (1869–1950).

noun lulus

  1. slang A remarkable person, object, or idea. Look out for that first step. It's a lulu.

    Similar: exception, ace, innovation, champion, comedy, surprise, doozie, humdinger

  2. slang A very attractive or alluring person.

    Similar: babe, beauty, cutie, doll, stunner · Opposite: dog, fright, monster, monstrosity, sight

  3. slang A very bad mistake or error.

    Similar: aberration, bloomer, blooper, blunder, boner, boo-boo, break, clanger, cock-up, disadventure, error, fault

lulu²

  • /ˈluːlu/

Rhymes with -uːlu

Where it comes from

From the phrase in lieu.

noun lulus

  1. slang A fixed allowance paid to a legislator in lieu of reimbursement for actual expenses.

Lulu³

  • /ˈluːluː/

Rhymes with -uːlu

Where it comes from

A reduplication of Lu, a clipping of given names with the first syllable of Lu, Lou, such as Lucy, Lucille, Louise, Louisa.

proper noun Lulus · Lulues · Loulou

  1. A female given name. "Do excuse me, and forgive my inquisitiveness. I was struck with the name Lulu." "You think it a baby name," she said, laughing. "O, no; it is wonderfully sweet to me! and may I sometimes call you so?"
  2. A diminutive of the female given names Louisa, Louise, Lucy, and Lucille.

Lulu⁴

  • /ˈluːluː/

Rhymes with -uːlu

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Chinese 璐璐, 露露 (lùlù), 璐露, 露璐, etc.; in turn from 璐, 露, etc. From the Chinese practice of reduplicating a syllable or character to create a female name.

* From Mandarin Lù Lù, Lù-Lù, Lù-lù, Lùlù / Lu4lu4 / ㄌㄨˋㄌㄨˋ; in turn from Lù/lù, ㄌㄨˋ, Lu4/lu4. From Middle Chinese luH/LuH

* From Cantonese Lou6lou6; in turn from Lou6/lou6. From Middle Chinese luH/LuH

* From Taishanese Lu5lu5; in turn from Lu5/lu5. From Middle Chinese luH/LuH

proper noun Lulus · Lulues · Lu Lu · Lu-Lu · Lu-lu · Lou Lou

  1. A female given name from Chinese.

Lulu⁵

  • /ˈluːluː/

Rhymes with -uːlu

Where it comes from

From Arabic لُؤْلُؤ (luʔluʔ, literally “pearl”).

proper noun Lulus

  1. A unisex given name from Arabic.
  2. A female given name from Arabic, equivalent to English Pearl.

LULU⁶

Where it comes from

Coined in 1981 by American urban planning professor Frank J. Popper in his paper, “Siting LULUs”, Planning Magazine.

noun LULUs

  1. Locally unwanted land use.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: sweetheart, beauty, stunner, looker, smasher, mantrap, knockout, dish, peach, dandy, beaut, humdinger, oner, ripsnorter, doozie, truck

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"lulu." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/lulu. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

lulu. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/lulu

Chicago

"lulu." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/lulu.

BibTeX
@misc{lulu_2026,
  title = {lulu},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/lulu},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}