thứ

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [tʰɨ˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [tʰɨ˨˩˦]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [tʰɨ˦˥]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

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Sino-Vietnamese word from 次.

Note that in spite of superficial similarity, this word is unrelated to Khmer ទី (tii), Thai ที่ (tîi), Japanese 第 (dai), all from Chinese 第 (MC dejH) (SV: đệ).

The "weekday" sense is a reanalysis from its usage in words for weekdays.

thứ

1. order, rank, sort, type, kind, category
2. thing
3. (by extension) weekday

   Hôm nay là thứ mấy?

   What (week)day is today?

thứ

1. (formal) second

   con trai thứ ― the second son

thứ

1. Indicates things of the same category, such as languages (tiếng)

thứ

1. ordinal number marker

   thứ tám ― eighth

• Vietnamese originally did not mark numerals in ordinal usages. Nowadays, this is usually only seen in titles and forms of address, such as chú ba (“the third/second uncle”), thằng sáu (“the sixth/fifth boy”), etc.

Sino-Vietnamese word from 恕.

thứ

1. (chiefly in compounds, literary) to pardon, to forgive