tố nữ

See also: tonu and Tõnu

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 素女.

Tố Nữ is a goddess in Chinese mythology. In Vietnamese, this proper noun took on the meaning "beautiful woman" as a common noun. Similar developments can also be seen with đạo chích (“thief”), Mạnh Thường quân (“charitable person”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [to˧˦ nɨ˦ˀ˥]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [tow˨˩˦ nɨ˧˨]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [tow˦˥ nɨ˨˩˦]

Noun

tố nữ

1. (dated, literary) beautiful woman, beautiful girl

Derived terms

• mít tố nữ