chào

See also: chao, Chao, chāo, cháo, chǎo, and chão

Mandarin

Alternative forms

chao (nonstandard)
ĉào (very rare shorthand)

Romanization

chào (chao⁴, Zhuyin ㄔㄠˋ)

Hanyu Pinyin reading of 仦.
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 仯.
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 縃.
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 耖.
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 觘.
Hanyu Pinyin reading of 趠.

Vietnamese

Vietnamese phrasebook

This entry is part of the phrasebook project, which presents criteria for inclusion based on utility, simplicity and commonness.

Etymology

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 朝 (“to meet; to meet a senior person; to attend the emperor's audience”, SV: triều). Doublet of chầu and triều. (Nguyễn Văn Khang. Từ ngoại lai trong tiếng Việt, 2007)

The similarity to Italian ciao, which also means both "hello" and "goodbye", is purely coincidental (a false cognate).

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕaːw˨˩]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕaːw˦˩]
(Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [caːw˨˩]

Verb

chào • (嘲)

(usually transitive) to greet, salute, say hello or goodbye to
chào từ biệt ― to bid farewell
chào khách ― to solicit a customer
Gặp bạn cứ lờ đi không chào.
She pretended she didn't know me.
(literally, “That person ignored me and didn't say hi.”)
Chào bác đi con.
Say hi to your auntie.
(Cháu) chào chú (ạ).
Hello.
(literally, “I greet you, young Mister”)
Chào mọi người!
Hello/Bye everybody!
Xin (kính) chào quý vị và các bạn.
Greetings.
(literally, “We'd like to cordially greet you, our honorable audience and friends.”)
Xin (kính) chào và hẹn gặp lại.
We hope to see you again. Goodbye.
(literally, “We'd like to bid you farewell and we hope to see you again.”)

Usage notes

As with chúc (“to wish”), a subject is not required if it is said by the person who is doing the greeting. However, it might be considered bad form for young children not to use their appropriate pronoun for a subject.
Chào is the only greeting that is genuinely used. Xin chào is rather stiff and unrealistic, mostly appropriate on television or at formal events. There isn't any variant used based on the current time of day, although an artificial expression such as chào buổi sáng (“good morning”) may be heard in certain contexts, such as songs, prose or poetry, and especially relevant in language teaching. Unironically saying chào buổi sáng, however, might make one sound awkward and potentially pretentious.
Chào is rarely ever said in isolation. Most of the time, a following pronoun or kinship term is required. For example, chào bạn (“greetings, friend/young person”), chào bác (“greetings, uncle/aunt”), chào chị (“greetings, sister”), etc.). These phrases, or just chào by itself, can be followed by a final particle, such as nha or ạ.
Chào nha!
Bye!

Interjection

chào • (嘲)

alas; ah
Chào! Ăn thua gì!
Ah! It didn't work!

Synonyms

(more formal) xin chào (“hello”)