annu

Annu is a morpheme derived from the Latin annus, meaning year. In English, it appears as a root or prefix in a family of terms associated with years or with ring-like shapes. It is not typically used as an independent word in modern English.

Many common English words incorporate annu in the sense of year. Annual and annually denote something occurring once a year or on a yearly basis. Annuum or annus is used in phrases such as the “fiscal year,” and annals refer to yearly records or a chronological history. Annuity designates a financial arrangement that provides a stream of payments at regular intervals, often yearly, to a recipient; an annuitant is the person receiving those payments. In geometry and biology, annulus (a ring) and annular (ring-shaped) reflect the separate sense of a ring rather than a time period.

In scientific terminology, annulus appears in anatomy as the annulus fibrosus, a ring-like structure surrounding the intervertebral disc, and in botany and mycology to describe ringed features on stems, spores, or fruiting bodies. The forms annulate and annulation describe objects or patterns with or forming rings.

Overall, annu functions primarily as a linguistic root linking concepts of year and ring, with its most visible impact in words related to time periods, finance, and ring-shaped structures. See also: annus, annual, annuity, annulus, annular.