khởi công

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 起工 (“to break ground”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [xəːj˧˩ kəwŋ͡m˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kʰəːj˧˨ kəwŋ͡m˧˧] ~ [xəːj˧˨ kəwŋ͡m˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [kʰəːj˨˩˦ kəwŋ͡m˧˧] ~ [xəːj˨˩˦ kəwŋ͡m˧˧]

Verb

khởi công

1. to break ground; to start building; to initiate construction (especially of a large engineering project)