phù thuỷ

See also: phù thủy

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

Etymology

    Sino-Vietnamese word from 符水 (“charmed water”).

    Pronunciation

    • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [fu˨˩ tʰwi˧˩]
    • (Huế) IPA(key): [fʊw˦˩ tʰwɪj˧˨]
    • (Saigon) IPA(key): [fʊw˨˩ tʰ⁽ʷ⁾ɪj˨˩˦]

    Noun

    phù thuỷ

    1. any mythical or folkloric creature who practices magic or witchcraft; a witch, warlock, wizard, charmer, enchanter, magician, etc.
      mụ phù thuỷ
      a wicked witch
      thầy phù thuỷ
      a wizard
      Trường Phù thủy và Pháp sư Hogwarts
      Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

    Usage notes

    • Fantasy is a contemporary genre in Vietnamese literature, imported from the West, with a lack of a diverse vocabulary. Phù thuỷ and pháp sư are used for human magicians. Chú lùn for short humanoid creatures, tiên for fair elvish creatures, and quỷ for monstrous creatures.
    • Some translators consciously use phù thuỷ for female witches, and pháp sư for male wizards. The translator of the Harry Potter series used this approach.
    This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.