thừa

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Sino-Vietnamese word from 剩. The reading fails to retain the final consonant in Middle Chinese 剩 (zying^H), which seems to be unique to Vietnamese (compare Mandarin 剩 (shèng), Cantonese 剩 (sing⁶, zing⁶), Japanese じょう (jō) and Korean 승 (seung)). The one that does, thặng, only occurs in the word thặng dư or colloquial adjective thượng thặng (“first-degree, top-level”). This failure to retain the final consonant also occurs for another etymon below, and for the name of the Chinese author 吴承恩 (Wú Chéng'ēn, Ngô Thừa Ân).

Alternatively, Haudricourt (1954) suggests that thừa is a non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 餘 (“left over, extra”, SV: dư).

Adjective

thừa

1. exceeding what is needed; redundant; superfluous

   Synonyms: dư, dư thừa

   động tác thừa ― redundant action

   còn thừa thời gian ― still have time

   trả tiền thừa cho khách

   to pay the change to some customer

   Thừa tiền mà mua cái ngữ ấy!

   Are there even enough money to buy that thing?

   Lời mẹ dặn không có thừa đâu!

   [Your] mother's advice is not redundant!

2. leftover

   đồ ăn thừa ― leftover food

   vải thừa ― leftover textile

3. unneeded; needless; unnecessary

   Bài viết này có nhiều câu thừa.

   This article contains many unnecessary sentences.

Adverb

thừa

1. (informal) without doubt; self-assured

   thừa biết; biết thừa ― to be well aware

   thừa hiểu ― to fully understand

   Nó thừa khôn ngoan để hiểu chuyện ấy.

   He is surely smart enough to understand the matter.

Etymology 2

Sino-Vietnamese word from 乘.

Verb

thừa

1. (chiefly in fixed expressions) to take advantage of (an opportunity or situation)

   Hyponym: nhân

   thừa cơ; thừa gió bẻ măng

   to seize an opportunity

   thừa thắng

   to take advantage of a victory

   thừa thế

   to take advantage of a beneficial situation

   thừa dịp

   to take advantage of a situation

   Thừa lúc đông người, kẻ xấu lẻn vào ăn cắp.

   Taking advantage of the crowd, a morally bad person sneaked in to steal.

Derived terms

• thừa cơ
• thừa thắng
• thừa thế

Romanization

thừa

1. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 乘

Derived terms

• thừa số
• thừa số nguyên tố

Etymology 3

Verb

thừa

1. to obey (an order of a person of authority)

   thừa lệnh thủ tướng ― obey an order of the prime minister

2. (chiefly in compounds) to help; to assist

   huyện thừa ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   phủ thừa ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   tự thừa; thừa tự ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

3. (obsolete) to obey

   khâm thừa ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   phụng thừa ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Derived terms

• huyện thừa
• khâm thừa
• phủ thừa
• phụng thừa
• tự thừa

Etymology 4

Sino-Vietnamese word from 承.

Verb

thừa

1. (chiefly in compounds) to inherit; to receive

Derived terms

• giao thừa (交承)
• kế thừa (繼承)
• thừa hưởng (承享)
• thừa kế (承繼)
• thừa nhận (承認)
• Thừa Thiên Huế
• Thừa Thiên (承天)

Noun

thừa

1. (poetry) shō

See also

• khai (“ki”)
• khởi (“ki”)
• chuyển (“ten”)
• hợp (“gō”)

Etymology 5

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

thừa

1. (obsolete) Short for thừa phái.

References

• “thừa”, in Chunom.net (in Vietnamese)