lu

Lu is a syllable used in several languages and can refer to people, places, and the chemical element Lutetium, which has the symbol Lu.

As a surname, Lu corresponds to several Chinese family names written with different characters, including 陆 (Lù), 卢/盧 (Lú), and 鲁 (Lǔ). It is also found as a given name or part of given names in East Asian communities and, through migration, appears in various parts of the world.

In geography and political codes, LU is used as the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code for Luxembourg, and the internet country code top-level domain for Luxembourg is .lu.

Historically, the ancient Chinese state of Lu (鲁/Lǔ) existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now the Shandong region, playing a significant role in early Chinese history and literature, including the Spring and Autumn period writings.

In science, Lu denotes Lutetium, a chemical element with atomic number 71 and the symbol Lu. Lutetium is a hard, silvery-white rare earth metal named after Lutetia, the Latin name for Paris. It was discovered in 1907 and has specialized uses, including catalysts, phosphors, and, in the form of Lu-177, applications in targeted radiotherapy and nuclear medicine.