Vietnamese

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Proto-Vietic *koh (throat; neck), from Proto-Austroasiatic *kɔːʔ (neck) (Sidwell, 2024). Cognate with Tho [Cuối Chăm] kɔː⁵, Khmer (kɑɑ), Bahnar hơko, Mon ကံ. For a case of similar coda mismatch between PV and PAA forms, see vả, and also Muong nỏ.

The PV form is probably unrelated to Proto-Tai *ɣo:ᴬ.

Noun

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cổ (, 𦙶, )

  1. neck
    cổ taya wrist
    cổ chânan ankle
    cổ chaia bottleneck
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Sino-Vietnamese word from . Doublet of .

Adjective

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cổ

  1. ancient; "old"; compare (old, but not ancient)
    Ai Cập cổAncient Egypt
  2. antique; "old"; compare (old, but not ancient)
    đồ cổantiques
See also
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Etymology 3

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Word formation with distal denotation by adding hỏi tone to the root in Southern Vietnamese and some topolects of Thanh Hoá.

Pronoun

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cổ

  1. (colloquial, Southern Vietnam, certain regions of Thanh Hoá) she/her, that young adult woman