gác

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

• Audio (Hà Nội):

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Borrowed from French garde.

Some early attestations are in Le Livre du soldat annamite (The Book of the Annamite Soldier, 1914), where it is seen in lính gác and đứng gác. Latter appeared as an entry in Việt-Nam tự-điển (1931) with the elaboration "bởi chữ Pháp ⟪garde⟫" (“from the French word 'garde'”).

gác

1. to guard; to watch

Possibly related to ghếch (cf. rác and rếch, bạc and bệch).

gác • (擱, 挌, 各, 閣, 搁)

1. to put something on something; to hang something on something

   gác chân lên bàn ― to put/rest one's legs on a table

2. to put on hold

   Giờ ta tạm gác lại chuyện đó.

   Let's put that on hold for the time being.

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 閣 (“pavillion”, SV: các).

gác • (閣)

1. (architecture) a loft

   Synonym: gác lửng

• If it's a tầng or lầu (“floor; story”), you get there by climbing a flight of stairs. If it's a gác (“loft”), you get there by climbing a ladder.

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