xin chào

Vietnamese

Etymology

xin (“to ask for”) +‎ chào (“to greet”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [sin˧˧ t͡ɕaːw˨˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [sin˧˧ t͡ɕaːw˦˩]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [sɨn˧˧ caːw˨˩]

Interjection

xin chào • (吀嘲)

1. (formal) hello
2. (formal) greetings

Usage notes

• This formal greeting can be seen as weird/hypocritical when used among people. Instead, the informal form chào is more often used instead. However, the use of xin chào can be advantageous when used for some things (Xin Chào Thế Giới, etc.) and some social relations (Xin Chào Việt Nam, xin chào mọi người, etc.).
• There are many other greetings in Vietnamese which depend on the relationship or social standing between the speaker and the person addressed. This greeting can, however, be used between any people, theoretically at least.
  • In reality, it is almost never used in conversations; the only situation where it can be heard is perhaps in generic advertisements aimed at foreign tourists; on TV, kính chào is used more frequent. It is still more natural to use chào + [proper kinship "pronoun"] to greet someone.

Synonyms

• chào (informal)