thiêu

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 燒.

The second sense is semantically influenced by đốt, which means both "to set on fire" and "(of bugs) to sting" in Northern and Central Vietnam dialects.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [tʰiəw˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [tʰiw˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [tʰiw˧˧]
• Homophone: thiu

Verb

thiêu • (烧, 燒)

1. (transitive, usually of fire itself, uncommonly of people) to burn

   thiêu rụi ― to burn to the ground

   Ngọn lửa thiêu rụi cả toà nhà. ― The fire burnt the whole building to the ground.

   tự thiêu ― to self-immolate

   thiêu thân ― a mayfly

2. (colloquial, of mosquitoes) to bite a lot

   Ra vườn cần thận kẻo bị muỗi thiêu. ― There will be a lot of mosquitoes in the garden so be careful.