thầy

See also: thay, thây, thấy, and thẩy

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

(Northern Vietnam, obsolete in writing) thày

Etymology

Attested in Phật thuyết đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh (佛說大報父母恩重經) as 舍賴 (MC syaeH lajH) (modern SV: xả lại), ultimately from Old Chinese 師 (OC *srij) (B-S) (SV: sư).

The written form thày used to be common in the Northern dialects, now mostly eradicated in writing, although the pronunciation itself likely still remains in less mainstream Northern dialects.

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [tʰəj˨˩]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [tʰəj˦˩]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [tʰəj˨˩]
Audio (Hà Nội): (file)

Noun

thầy • (柴, 偨, 師)

male teacher
Synonym: thầy giáo

Coordinate term: cô giáo
(dated, now literary) teacher
Muốn sang thì bắc cầu kiều
Muốn con hay chữ thì yêu lấy thầy
If you want to cross a river, build a bridge
If you want your children educated, love (and marry) a teacher.
(Northern Vietnam, somewhat dated) father
thầy mẹ/u ― parents
(only in compounds) Buddhist monk; expert
thầy cãi ― lawyer

thầy lang ― practitioner of East Asian alternative medicine

Derived terms

Descendants

→ Khmer: ថី (thəy)

Pronoun

thầy

I/me, your male teacher
you, my male teacher
he/him, that male teacher we're talking about
(Northern Vietnam, somewhat dated) I/me, your father
(Northern Vietnam, somewhat dated) you, my father
(Northern Vietnam, somewhat dated) he/him, your/my father