cỏ

See also: Appendix:Variations of "co"

Middle Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *kɔh (“grass”).

Pronunciation

• (Đông Kinh) [kɔ^C1]

Noun

cỏ (𦹵, 𦹯, 苦)

1. grass

   sang cỏ (cây cỏ) ― flora

Derived terms

• muâng cỏ
• ma cỏ

References

• Alexandre de Rhodes (1651) “cỏ”, in Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (in Middle Vietnamese, Latin, and Portuguese), Rome: Propaganda Fide

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *kɔh (“grass”). Cognate with Thavung ก็อฮ.

Attested as cỏ in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651).

The sense "marijuana" is probably a calque of English weed.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kɔ˧˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kɔ˧˨]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [kɔ˨˩˦]

• Audio (Saigon):

  (file)

Noun

(classifier lá, cây, ngọn) cỏ • (𦹵, 𦹯, 古, 苦)

1. grass
2. (slang) weed; marijuana

Usage notes

• Usage of the classifier ngọn is literary.

See also

• cây cỏ
• cỏ bợ
• cỏ cây
• cỏ dại
• cỏ gà
• cỏ rác
• cỏ tranh
• rau cỏ
• xanh cỏ

Adjective

cỏ • (𦹵, 𦹯, 古, 苦)

1. (literary) negligible

See also

• giặc cỏ

References

• "cỏ" in Hồ Ngọc Đức, Free Vietnamese Dictionary Project (details)
• Lê Sơn Thanh, "Nom-Viet.dat", WinVNKey (details)