lái

See also: Appendix:Variations of "lai"

Mandarin

Alternative forms

• lai — nonstandard

Pronunciation

• audio:

  (file)

Romanization

lái (lai², Zhuyin ㄌㄞˊ)

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Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [laːj˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [laːj˨˩˦]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [laːj˦˥]

Etymology 1

Probably from Old Chinese 舵 (OC *lˤajʔ) (B-S) (SV: đà).

Verb

lái • (梩)

1. (vehicles) to control; to drive, to ride, to pilot, etc.

   lái xe ― to drive a car

2. (informal) to digress, to sidetrack, or to put one's own spin on

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with nói lái.

Noun

lái

1. steering wheel; steering control
2. (colloquial) Short for lái xe (“driver”) or lái đò (“boatman”).
3. (colloquial) used to refer to a merchant or trader

Etymology 2

Likely from Sino-Tibetan. Compare Chinese 二 (MC nyijH).

Alternative forms

• nái

Numeral

lái

1. (probably obsolete, chiefly pig traders' cant) two

See also

(numerals in pig traders' cant) số đếm trong tiếng lóng lái lợn; chách (“one”), lái/nái (“two”), thâm (“three”), chớ (“four”), kẹo (“five”), mục (“six”), khắp/hấp (“seven”), bét (“eight”), khươm/khơm (“nine”), nạp/lạp (“ten”), ^{(Category: vi:Numerals in pig traders' cant)}