chả

See also: cha, CHA, chá, chà, chā, chǎ, -cha, and -chá

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 鮓 (“minced and salted fish”, SV: trả).

Noun

chả • (炙, 鲊, 鮓, 鯺, 鮺, 𤌄)

1. patty (a flattened, grilled or fried portion of ground or chopped meat, egg, or seafood)
2. (dialectal) Vietnamese pork sausage

Synonyms

• (Vietnamese pork sausage): giò lụa (northern Vietnam), giò, chả lụa (southern Vietnam)

Derived terms

patty

• bún chả
• bún chả cá
• chả bì
• chả bò
• chả cá
• chả chìa
• chả chiên (southern Vietnam)
• chả cốm
• chả cuốn
• chả giò
• chả Huế
• chả lụa
• chả lụi
• chả mực
• chả nem
• chả nướng
• chả phòng
• chả quế
• chả ram
• chả rán (northern Vietnam)
• chả rươi
• chả tôm
• chả trứng
• chả viên

Related terms

• bánh

Etymology 2

Corruption of chẳng.

Adverb

chả • (啫, 渚, 𠁙, 𤀞)

1. (informal) not at all

   Tau chả biết.

   I haven't a clue.

   (literally, “I don't know.”)

Usage notes

Like chẳng, chả is more emphatic than không.

Synonyms

• (not at all): chẳng, không, đếch (vulgar), đách (vulgar), đéo (vulgar), cóc, ứ

Etymology 3

Word formation with distal denotation by adding hỏi tone to the root cha (“dude”) in Southern Vietnamese and certain dialects of Thanh Hoá.

Pronoun

chả

1. (Southern Vietnam, informal) he/him, that dude