tá hoả

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

tá hỏa

Etymology

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “hoả is obviously 火 (MC xwaX), what is tá?”

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [taː˧˦ hwaː˧˩]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [taː˨˩˦ hwaː˧˨]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [taː˦˥ waː˨˩˦]

Verb

tá hoả

(colloquial) to panic from shock or astonishment
Sáng đậy, tôi tá hoả khi thấy chùm chìa khoá đã biến đâu mất.
That morning, I started panicking when I realised that my bunch of keys was gone.