mẫu tự

See also: mẫu tử

Vietnamese

Etymology

    Sino-Vietnamese word from 母字, composed of (mother) and (character), anagram and misconstruction of Chinese 字母 (tự mẫu), perhaps due to the influence of chữ cái. Compare the case of có mặt (native compound) and hiện diện (its sinicized internal calque counterpart).

    Pronunciation

    • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [məw˦ˀ˥ tɨ˧˨ʔ]
    • (Huế) IPA(key): [məw˧˨ tɨ˨˩ʔ]
    • (Saigon) IPA(key): [məw˨˩˦ tɨ˨˩˨]

    Noun

    mẫu tự

    1. (formal, orthography) letter
      Synonym: chữ cái

    See also

    • thanh mẫu
    • vận mẫu