Vietnamese edit

Etymology edit

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese (SV: lâu).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

lầu

  1. (history) a multistory building
    • 8th century, Li Bai, "Tại lầu Hoàng Hạc tống tiễn Mạnh Hạo Nhiên đi Quảng Lăng (At the Yellow Crane Tower, I saw Meng Haoran off to Guangling)", Vietnamese translation by Khương Hữu Dụng
      Hoàng Hạc lầu xưa bạn cũ rời; Dương Châu hoa khói tháng ba xuôi.
      My old friend has bidden me farewell (west) of the Yellow Crane Tower; Amidst the third month's flower-like mist, he'll go downstream to Yangzhou
    • 8th century, Cui Hao, "Lầu Hoàng Hạc (Yellow Crane Tower)", Vietnamese translations by Tản Đà (1937) & Khương Hữu Dụng (1997)
      Hạc vàng ai cưỡi đi đâu? Mà đây Hoàng Hạc riêng lầu còn trơ. / Ai cưỡi hạc vàng đi mất hút? Trơ lầu Hoàng Hạc chốn này thôi.
      Someone (of yore), riding the yellow crane, flew away; Here is the Yellow Crane Tower left empty.
  2. (architecture, chiefly Southern Vietnam) a floor (except the ground floor)
    lầu 1the 1st/2nd floor (1 level above the ground story)
    nhà lầua multistory house
    nhảy lầu tự tửto jump off a high floor to kill oneself

Usage notes edit

In southern Vietnamese, the ground floor is called trệt and each floor above it is a lầu numbered from lầu 1. By contrast, in northern and central Vietnamese, floors are called tầng, the ground floor is numbered as tầng 1, and tầng 0 technically refers to a crawl space.

Synonyms edit

  • (a floor (except the ground floor)): tầng (southern Vietnam)

Derived terms edit

Derived terms

Related terms edit