biết

See also: biet and biệt

Vietnamese

Etymology

Norman and Mei (1976), Schuessler (2007), Sagart (2008): Related to Min Chinese 捌 (bā, “to know”) (proto-Min: *pat). The direction of borrowing is debated; Norman and Mei, and Schuessler favour an Austroasiatic origin for this word, and regard Min as a loan. Sagart, on the other hand, proposes that the sense “to know; to recognise” in both Min and Vietnamese is an extension of the sense “to differentiate; to separate” of 別 (OC *N-pret) (B-S), and hence treats V. biết as a

non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 別 (SV: biệt), a semantic development shared with Min.

The word has mostly displaced the use of hay, the more commonly seen word for "to know" in older literature.

Also compare Proto-Bahnaric *băt (“to know”) (Starling).

The Protestant biblical sense is a semantic loan from French connaître.

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɓiət̚˧˦]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɓiək̚˦˧˥]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɓiək̚˦˥]
Homophone: biếc (southern Vietnam)
Audio (Saigon): (file)

Verb

biết • (別)

to know; to be aware of
- 1936, Trọng Phụng Vũ, Số đỏ [Dumb Luck]:
  Cụ Hồng lại nhăn mặt lần thứ mười mà khẽ gắt cũng lần thứ mười rằng:
  — Biết rồi ! Biết rồi ! Khổ lắm, nói mãi !
  Great-granddad Hồng groans for the 10th time as he grimaces also for the 10th time: "Oh I get it! I get it! Enough with the nagging already!"
to learn about; to realize
to know how to; to be able to
biết đọc ― to be able to read

biết viết ― to know how to write
to have a taste for (an acquired taste)
biết ăn mắm tôm ― to like to eat shrimp paste
(biblical, Protestantism) to know (have sexual relations with)

Derived terms