Stau

See also: stau

German

Etymology

18th century, from Low German Stau, from Middle Low German stouw, stouwe (“weir”), probably a back-formation from stouwen (“to stop, dam”), from Old Saxon *stōwa, from Proto-West Germanic *stōu, ultimately derived from Proto-Germanic *stōō (“place”). Cognate with Dutch stuw.

Alternatively the Dutch and Low German forms could be inherited from the Germanic noun (like English stow), but the sense makes a new deverbal derivation more likely.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃtaʊ̯/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ̯

Noun

Stau m (strong, genitive Staus, plural Staus or (chiefly for “weirs”) Staue)

1. congestion, stagnancy of water or anything dammed or otherwise backed-up
2. (especially) Short for Verkehrsstau (“traffic jam”).
3. (specialist) weir

   Synonyms: Wehr, Stauwehr, Stauwerk, Stauanlage

Declension

Declension of Stau [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Stau	die	Staus, Staue
genitive	eines	des	Staus	der	Staus, Staue
dative	einem	dem	Stau	den	Staus, Stauen
accusative	einen	den	Stau	die	Staus, Staue

Derived terms

• Blutstau
• stauanfällig
• Staubildung
• Staudamm
• Stauende
• Staumauer
• Staumeldung
• Stauwehr
• Verkehrsstau
• Wasserstau

 

Related terms

• stauen

Further reading

• “Stau” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Stau” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Stau” in Duden online

Luxembourgish

Noun

Stau m (plural Stauen)

1. traffic jam