vắt

See also: Appendix:Variations of "vat"

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [vat̚˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [vak̚˦˧˥]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [vak̚˦˥] ~ [jak̚˦˥]
• Homophone: dắt

• Audio (Hà Nội):

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• Audio (Saigon):

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Etymology 1

From Proto-Vietic *pat, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *pat ~ *pac ~ *paac; cognate with Mon ပတ် (pɔt), Halang poat and Kuy pat.

Verb

vắt • (𢪱)

1. to rest something on something

   vắt tay lên trán ― to put one's hand to one's forehead (e.g. when concentrating deeply)

   vắt chéo chân ― to cross one's legs

   vắt áo lên vai ― to hang one's shirt on one's shoulder

2. to wring (cloth)
3. to squeeze (a piece of fruit to get juice out of it)

   (figurative) vắt chanh bỏ vỏ ― to squeeze juice out of a lime then throw its remains away; to abandon someone or something after using them/it

   (figurative) vắt óc suy nghĩ ― to "squeeze" one's brain; to think very hard; to agonize

   (figurative) vắt kiệt sức người lao động ― to "squeeze dry" laborers' labor; to force laborers to work as hard as possible without caring about their well-being

Etymology 2

From Proto-Vietic *-pat.

Noun

(classifier con) vắt • (𧉚, 𧊎, 𧊥)

1. a land-leech