EU

1. 1
   proper nouninitialism

   Initialism of European Union.

   The EU negotiated a new trade deal with several partner nations last spring.

   Member states of the EU coordinate much of their economic and environmental policy.

   Note

   The letters are spoken separately, and the word does most of its work as a modifier: an EU directive, EU countries, EU membership. Standing alone it takes the article, as in the UK and the EU. Behind it is a supranational organization of 27 member states, created in the 1950s to draw Europe's economies and politics closer together. Fan writing uses the same two letters for the Star Wars expanded universe.

2. 2
   noununcountableabbreviation

   Abbreviation of expanded universe.

   That character first appeared in the EU long before showing up on screen.

   Several EU comics explore the events that happen between the films.

   Note

   Star Wars fans use the abbreviation for the novels, comics and games that extend the films, much of which was later rebranded as Legends after a continuity reboot. Canon is the live question here, because stories told in these other media often sit outside the official continuity. The word is uncountable. It takes the article (in the EU), or it modifies a noun, as in EU novels.

3. 3
   symbol · Eu

   The symbol used in chemistry for the element europium.

   Researchers added a trace of Eu to the glass and studied how it glowed under ultraviolet light.

   The sample's Eu concentration was measured by mass spectrometry.

   Note

   Only the casing tells this one apart: a capital E and a lowercase u name europium, while two capitals spell the European Union. Every two-letter element symbol follows that pattern. In a formula it stands for an atom of europium, set beside the symbols of the other elements in the compound; in a lab report it is plain shorthand for the element.

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