tư

tư

See also: Appendix:Variations of "tu"

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

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

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

   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