bẻ

See also: Appendix:Variations of "be"

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *pɛh (“to break in two, to pick”), from Proto-Mon-Khmer *pih ~ *peh ~ *pɛh. Cognate with Arem pɛh, Khmu [Cuang] pɛh, Khmer បេះ (beh), Semai pèh.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɓɛ˧˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɓɛ˧˨]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʔɓɛ˨˩˦]

Verb

bẻ • (把, 𢯏)

1. to break; to snap

   bẻ đôi ― to break/snap in two

   một chữ bẻ đôi (cũng/còn) không biết ― to be illiterate / poorly educated (literally, “would not be able to even recognize a character broken in two”)

   một nốt nhạc bẻ đôi (cũng/còn) không biết ― to be musically illiterate (literally, “would not be able to even recognize a musical note broken in two”)

See also

Derived terms

• bắt bẻ
• bẻ lái
• vọp bẻ