thiếu gia

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 少爺, composed of 少 (“young”) and 爺 (“grandfather”), from Chinese 少爺／少爷 (shàoyé), eggcorn of thiếu da, due to confusion between Chinese 爺／爷 (yé, Sino-Vietnamese da), Sino-Vietnamese -gia (“family; -ist”) and native Vietnamese da (“skin”). The spelling thiếu da could, theoretically, also be nonsensically interpreted as "to lack skin" and thus not favorable. See also Gia Tô.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [tʰiəw˧˦ zaː˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [tʰiw˨˩˦ jaː˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [tʰiw˦˥ jaː˧˧]

Noun

thiếu gia

1. (archaic) a young master, the son of a wealthy man
2. a rich boy born in wealth

   Synonym: công tử

3. Eggcorn of thiếu da; misspelling of thiếu da.

See also

• thái gia
• lão gia
• tiểu thư

Further reading

• “Thiếu gia hay thiếu da”, in PetroTimes‎^[1], 2013 August 23, retrieved 2019-02-19