mẫu tự

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 母字, composed of 母 (“mother”) and 字 (“character”), anagram and misconstruction of Chinese 字母 (tự mẫu), perhaps due to the influence of chữ cái.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [məw˦ˀ˥ tɨ˧˨ʔ]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [məw˧˨ tɨ˨˩ʔ]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [məw˨˩˦ tɨ˨˩˨]

Noun

mẫu tự

1. (formal, orthography) Synonym of chữ cái (“letter”)

See also

• thanh mẫu
• vận mẫu