hảo

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 好. This is the adjectival form, derived from 好 (MC xawX, “good”). The verbal form, derived from 好 (MC xawH, “to like”), is hiếu.

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

hảo

(only in compounds, nowadays also humorous) good
hảo ngọt ― sweet-toothed

Usage notes

This is a bound morpheme found in compounds.
On the Internet, it also occurs often as part of many spontaneous compounds, such as "hảo thanh niên", "hảo skill". This usage appears to originate from, be modelled after, or at least be influenced by, hảo hán (“brave man”), a word that occurs chiefly in Chinese fiction. These spontaneous compounds are meant to be humorous or ironic and might be comparable to the usage of English based (“praiseworthy and admirable”).

Derived terms

Anagrams

hoả