trái phép

Vietnamese

Etymology

From trái (“left; not conforming to”) +‎ phép (“permission”). Alternatively, the word phép here could be interpreted as "law", making this a calque of Chinese 非法 (phi pháp, literally “unlawful”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕaːj˧˦ fɛp̚˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʈaːj˨˩˦ fɛp̚˦˧˥]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʈaːj˦˥ fɛp̚˦˥]

Adjective

trái phép

1. illegal as in unauthorized, without permission or without a permit