cây
Vietnamese
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editInherited from Proto-Vietic *gəl ~ *kəl (“tree”). Cognate with Muong câl, cấl, Kha Phong kɨl². Doublet of cấy.
Possibly from Proto-Austroasiatic *kəl (“to fell (trees)”); in that case, cognate with Semai kòl, Temiar kel, Proto-Bahnaric *kal (whence Koho köl), Proto-Katuic *kəl (whence Pacoh câl).
Alternatively, derived from a different root (currently unreconstructed) that yielded Proto-Khmuic *tŋkəl (“stump”) (whence Khmu [Cuang] tŋkɨl), Khmer គល់ (kŭəl), and Mon ဓဂဵု.
Pronunciation
edit- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [kəj˧˧]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [kəj˧˧]
- (Saigon) IPA(key): [kəj˧˧]
Audio (Hà Nội): (file) Audio (Saigon): (file)
Noun
edit(classifier cái) cây • (核,荄,𣘃)
- plant with a hard trunk or stem, such as a woody tree or bamboo, as opposed to cỏ (“(soft-stemmed) grass”)
- dưới bóng cây ― under the shade of a tree
- (by extension) plant (including trees and grasses), or more rarely, mushroom
- (colloquial) Short for cây số (“kilometre/kimometer”).
- Nhà tui cách Sài Gòn cỡ năm chục cây.
- My house is about fifty kilometres from Sài Gòn.
Derived terms
editSee also
editClassifier
edit- Indicates plants
- Indicates stick/rod-like objects
- Synonym: thanh
- ăn cây ― to get beaten with a stick
- (music) Indicates string instruments and some other types of musical instruments
Categories:
- Vietnamese terms inherited from Proto-Vietic
- Vietnamese terms derived from Proto-Vietic
- Vietnamese doublets
- Vietnamese terms inherited from Proto-Austroasiatic
- Vietnamese terms derived from Proto-Austroasiatic
- Vietnamese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Vietnamese terms with audio pronunciation
- Vietnamese nouns classified by cái
- Vietnamese lemmas
- Vietnamese nouns
- Vietnamese terms with usage examples
- Vietnamese colloquialisms
- Vietnamese short forms
- Vietnamese classifiers
- vi:Musical instruments
- vi:Plants
- vi:Trees
- vi:Mushrooms
- vi:String instruments