网页From about 1829 until the mid-20th century, the islands' English name was spelled Luchu, [18] Loochoo, Loo-choo, [18] or Lewchew, all pronounced / ˈ l uː tʃ uː /. [19] These spellings were based on the Okinawan form Ruuchuu ( ルーチュー ) , [ 20 ] as well as the Chinese pronunciation of the characters " 琉球 ", which in Mandarin is ...