tư

See also: Appendix:Variations of "tu"

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [tɨ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [tɨ˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [tɨ˧˧]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 四 (“four”, SV: tứ).

Numeral

tư • (四, 𦊛)

1. (chiefly Northern Vietnam, only in compounds) four

   hai mươi tư ― twenty four

   một trăm linh tư ― one hundred and four

2. fourth

   ba phần tư ― three quarters

   thứ tư ― fourth/Wednesday

   tháng tư ― fourth month/April

3. (Southern Vietnam, of a sibling) third-born

   chú tư ― "fourth" uncle (your grandparents' third child, who's male and who's younger than one of your parents)

   anh tư ― "fourth" big brother (your parents' third child who's your older brother)

   chị tư ― "fourth" big sister (your parents' third child who's your older sister, or a woman whose husband's his parents' third child)

Usage notes

• Unlike other cardinal numbers, the ordinal phrasal expression for bốn (“four”) is generally not *thứ bốn, but thứ tư (“fourth”).

See also

• bốn

Etymology 2

Sino-Vietnamese word from 私.

Adjective

tư

1. (formal or of a school) private

   Synonyms: riêng, tư thục

   Antonyms: công, chung

   riêng tư ― private and personal

   việc tư ― private affairs

   công tư phân minh ― upright about the boundary between public and private matters

Derived terms

• riêng tư
• tư hữu
• tư lợi
• tư nhân
• tư thục
• vô tư

Etymology 3

Sino-Vietnamese word from 斯.

Determiner

tư

1. (only in compounds) this (occurred in compounds derived from or in the style of Classical Chinese)

Derived terms

• Ba Tư (波斯, “Persia”)
• bỉ sắc tư phong (彼嗇斯豐)
• Nam Tư (南斯, “Yugoslavia”)

Etymology 4

Romanization

tư

1. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 司
2. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 資
3. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 思
4. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 咨
5. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 姿
6. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 玆
7. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 滋