trâu

See also: Appendix:Variations of "trau"

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

• (certain coastal Northern dialects, endangered) tâu (dialects with /ʈ/-/t/ merger)
• (certain coastal North Central dialects, endangered) tu (dialects with /ʈ/-/t/ merger, no diphthongization)
• (North Central Vietnam) tru (no diphthongization)

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *c-luː. Cognate with North Central Vietnamese tru, Muong tlu, Old Mon jlow (“ox, bull, cattle”) (whence Mon ဂၠဴ, Nyah Kur chǝlòw), Mang løː⁶ and Phong-Kniang jlǝːw.

Attested as Northern Middle Vietnamese tlâu in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651). The modern North Central forms are not reflexes of this form, but descended from an unattested non-Northern Middle Vietnamese form.

Khmer ឆ្លូវ (chləw, “Year of the Ox”) was borrowed from a Vietic variety, and thus is not an inherited cognate of the terms listed above.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕəw˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʈəw˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʈəw˧˧]
• Homophone: châu (Northern Vietnam)

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

Noun

(classifier con) trâu • (𤛠, 𬌥, 㺏, 𤠋)

1. water buffalo

   trâu trắng ― an albino water buffalo

2. (slang, by extension) cryptomining rig

Derived terms

• con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp
• đàn gảy tai trâu
• đầu trâu mặt ngựa
• hoa nhài cắm bãi cứt trâu
• làm trâu làm ngựa
• trâu bò
• trâu buộc ghét trâu ăn
• trâu già gặm cỏ non
• trẻ trâu

See also

• nghé (“water buffalo calf”)
• bò (“Southern Yellow bovine”)

Adjective

trâu

1. (slang, video games) enduring; tough; hard

   Con boss game này trâu quá. ― This game's boss is super tough (to beat).