thừa

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

Sino-Vietnamese word from 剩. The reading fails to retain the final consonant in Middle Chinese 剩 (zying^H), which seems to be unique to Vietnamese (compare Mandarin 剩 (shèng), Cantonese 剩 (sing⁶, zing⁶), Japanese じょう (jō) and Korean 승 (seung)). The one that does, thặng, only occurs in the word thặng dư or colloquial adjective thượng thặng (“first-degree, top-level”). This failure to retain the final consonant also occurs for thừa below.

Haudricourt (1954) suggested that thừa is a non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 餘 (“left over, extra”, SV: dư).

Adjective

thừa

1. left over; superfluous

   Synonym: dư

Adverb

thừa

1. (only in fixed expressions) more than necessarily said

   thừa biết

   to know fully well; to be fully aware; to be the first one to acknowledge; to know, of all people

Etymology 2

Sino-Vietnamese word from 乘.

Verb

thừa

1. (only in fixed expressions) to take advantage of (an opportunity); to utilise; to avail oneself of

   thừa cơ

   to take one's chance; to take advantage of the current situation

   thừa thế

   to take advantage of the current situation

   thừa thắng

   to victoriously charge onward

Etymology 3

Sino-Vietnamese word from 承

Verb

thừa

1. to inherit; to receive

Derived terms

• giao thừa (交承, “New Year's Eve”)
• thừa hưởng (承享, “to be in possession (of); to inherit”)
• thừa kế (承繼, “to inherit”)
• thừa nhận (承認, “to recognise (faults, etc.); to admit; to acknowledge”)
• Thừa Thiên Huế (“a province of Vietnam”)
• Thừa Thiên (承天, “(history) a feudal province of Vietnam”)

 

Noun

thừa

1. (poetry, comics) shō

See also

• khởi (“ki”)
• chuyển (“ten”)
• kết (“ketsu”)/hợp (“gō”)