học sinh

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 學生, composed of 學 (“to learn”) and 生 (“learned person; student”), from Chinese 學生 / 学生 (xuéshēng, “student”). Compare Japanese 学生 (gakusei, “student”) and Korean 학생 (haksaeng, “student”). These cognates apply to students of all kinds, while this Vietnamese false friend only applies to primary and secondary pupils in modern times.

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [hawk͡p̚˧˨ʔ sïŋ˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [hawk͡p̚˨˩ʔ ʂɨn˧˧] ~ [hawk͡p̚˨˩ʔ sɨn˧˧]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [hawk͡p̚˨˩˨ ʂɨn˧˧] ~ [hawk͡p̚˨˩˨ sɨn˧˧]

Noun

học sinh

(archaic, education) a student
(primary and secondary education) a pupil; a schoolchild/schoolkid
Hypernym: học trò

Coordinate terms: học viên, sinh viên, nghiên cứu sinh