Chúa

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 主 (“master; lord”, SV: chủ), perhaps also a clipping of Thiên Chúa. Doublet of chúa (“noble prince/duke”) and chủ (“master; owner”).

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕuə˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕuə˨˩˦]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [cuə˦˥]
• Homophone: chúa

Chúa • (主)

1. (Abrahamism) God; the Lord

   Synonyms: Thiên Chúa, Chúa Trời, Thượng Đế, Dêu (obsolete), Chúa Dêu (obsolete)

   lạy Chúa ― bow to God (literal) → oh my God, oh my Lord, dear God, dear Lord

   ơn Chúa ― God's grace

   tạ ơn Chúa ― thank[s be to] God (literally, “to express gratitude for God's grace”)

   [nhờ] ơn Chúa ― by God's grace

   Bàn tay của Chúa ― The hand of God

2. (rare) synonym of Thiên Chủ (“Sakra”)

• Unlike in other Chinese-based vocabularies in East Asia, the Abrahamic God is always referred to as Chúa (“Lord”) (or its variants and synonyms, like Thượng Đế), not **Thần (“God”). Meanwhile, uppercased Thần denotes specifically “the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit” in Protestantism, and lowercased thần (“god”) any non-Abrahamic god.

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