งิ้ว

Thai

red cotton tree

statue at Wat Phai Rong Wua depicting a group of people climbing a red cotton tree in hell

Pronunciation

Orthographic/Phonemic		งิ้ว ŋ i ˆ w
Romanization	Paiboon	ngíu
	Royal Institute	ngio
(standard) IPA(key)		/ŋiw˦˥/(R)

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Southwestern Tai *ŋiːwꟲ⁴ (Jonsson, 1991). Cognate with Northern Thai ᨦᩥ᩠᩶ᩅ, Khün ᨦᩦ᩠᩶ᩅ, Isan งิ้ว, Lao ງີ້ວ (ngīu), Lü ᦇᦲᧁᧉ (ngiiw²) or ᦓᦲᧁᧉ (niiw²), Shan ၼိဝ်ႉ (nḭ̂o), Tai Nüa ᥘᥤᥝᥳ (li̇w) or ᥢᥤᥝᥳ (ni̇w), Phake ꩫိဝ် (niw).

Alternative forms

• เงี้ยว (ngíao)

Noun

งิ้ว • (ngíu)

1. (botany) red cotton tree: the plant Bombax ceiba of the family Bombacaceae (now Bombacoideae in Malvaceae).

Etymology 2

From Taishanese 優／优 (yiu¹, “actor”).

Noun

งิ้ว • (ngíu)

1. Chinese opera.

Usage notes

Uses the following classifiers, depending on form:

• เรื่อง (rʉ̂ʉang) for a performance
• คณะ (ká-ná) for a band of performers
• โรง (roong) for a performance venue

Synonyms

• อุปรากรจีน