sao

See also: Appendix:Variations of "sao"

Ilocano

Etymology

From Proto-Philippine *sahuq (“words, speech”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: sa‧o

Noun

sao

1. speech
2. (linguistics) language

   Iniiloko a sao

   Ilocano language

3. word

Derived terms

Derived terms

• agsao (“to speak; to talk”)
• isao (“to say; to express”)
• kasao (“speaker”)
• makisao (“to speak; to talk; to converse”)
• saoen (“to speak; to utter”)
• sao-sao (“rumor; hearsay; idle talk”)

Japanese

Romanization

sao

1. Rōmaji transcription of さお

Mandarin

Romanization

sao

1. Nonstandard spelling of sāo.
2. Nonstandard spelling of sǎo.
3. Nonstandard spelling of sào.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Tagalog

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: sa‧o
• IPA^(key): /saˈʔo/, [sɐˈʔo]}

Noun

saó

1. (nautical) mooring cable or chains; cable for mooring ships to the pier when at anchor

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [saːw˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʂaːw˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʂaːw˧˧] ~ [saːw˧˧]

• Audio (Hồ Chí Minh City)

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle Vietnamese ſao.

Attested in Phật thuyết đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh (佛說大報父母恩重經) as 牢 (MC lɑu) (modern SV: lao), so the older form of the word was likely *C-raːw (where *C is nonspecific consonant).

Adverb

sao • (吵, 牢, 𡫡)

1. why

   Synonyms: răng, tại sao, vì sao

   Sao nó bảo không đến?

   Why did he say he wouldn’t come?

2. how

   Synonyms: răng, làm sao

   Sao tao biết được?

   How should I know?

   Sao làm được hay vậy?

   How did you do that?

3. what; what is it; what now

   Synonyms: làm sao, gì, cái gì

   Sao?
   Sao trăng gì !?

   Wut?
   The hell you mean, "wut"?

4. whatever

   Sao cũng được.

   Whatever / Anything will do.

See also

Vietnamese demonstratives
Laurence Thompson (1965), Vietnamese Grammar
					Unspecified					Close to the speaker or newly introduced					Remote, already identified
PLACE đ- (first register)					đâu ‘wherever’					đây ‘here’					đấy ‘there’
REFERENCE n- (second register)					nào ‘whichever’					này ‘this’					nọ ‘that’
PROPORTION b- (first register)					bao ‘to whatever extent’					bây ‘to this extent’					bấy ‘to that extent’
MANNER s- (first register) v- (second register)					sao ‘however’					vầy ‘this way’					vậy ‘that way’
Nguyễn Phú Phong (1992), “Vietnamese Demonstratives Revisited”
				D• (Indefinite)				D1 (Proximal)				D2 (Medial)				D3 (Distal)
+NOM(inal)				đâu place-what				đây place-this				đấy place-that1
±NOM(inal)												đó (place-)that1				kia (place-)that2
–NOM(inal)				nào what				nầy this				nấy/ấy that1				nọ that2

Adjective

sao

1. problematic, bad

   Có sao lắm không?

   Is it very bad?

   Không sao đâu.

   No problem.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• không sao

 

Etymology 2

From Middle Vietnamese ſao, from Proto-Vietic *k-raːw. Cognate with Muong khao. Might represent a Kra-Dai or Austronesian substratum, compare Proto-Tai *t.naːwᴬ (“star”), Proto-Hlai *ɾaːw (“star”) and Proto-Austronesian *qajaw (“day”).

It is a semantic loan from English star, in the senses of “celebrity; actor”.

Alternative forms

• (Northeastern Vietnam) thao

Noun

(classifier vì, ngôi) sao • (𬁖 - ⿰日牢, 𣋀, 𣇟, 𤚧)

1. star (luminous celestial body)
2. asterisk

   toán sao ― an "asterisked" math problem (marked with an asterisk); a difficult math problem

Noun

(classifier ngôi) sao • (𬁖 - ⿰日牢, 𣋀, 𣇟, 𤚧)

1. star (celebrity)
2. star (actor)

See also

• tinh

• dấu sao (“asterisk”)
• sao mới (“nova”)
• sao siêu mới (“supernova”)

 

West Makian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈs̪a.o/

Verb

sao

1. (transitive) to burn
2. (transitive) to roast (over fire)

Conjugation

Conjugation of sao (action verb)
		singular	plural
			inclusive	exclusive
1st person		tasao	masao	asao
2nd person		nasao	fasao
3rd person	inanimate	isao	dasao
	animate
imperative		nasao, sao	fasao, sao

References

• James Collins (1982) Further Notes Towards a West Makian Vocabulary‎^[1], Pacific linguistics
• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎^[2], Pacific linguistics (as sao and saw)