thừa

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

• Audio (Hà Nội):

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Sino-Vietnamese word from 剩. Its regular reading thặng only occurs in the word thặng dư (“surplus”), while its irregular reading thừa, which fails to retain Middle Chinese final -ŋ, is acquired from 承 (see etymology 4).

Unlikely non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 餘 (“left over, extra”, SV: dư) as suggested by Haudricourt (1954).^[1]

thừa

1. unneeded, needless, unnecessary (exceeding what is needed); redundant, superfluous; leftover

   Synonyms: dư, dư thừa

   Đời thừa ― Redundant life (a short story by Nam Cao)

   động tác thừa ― redundant action

   còn thừa thời gian ― still [have] time to spare

   trả tiền thừa cho khách

   to return the change to customers

   (literally, “to return overpaid money to customers”)

   Thừa tiền mà mua cái ngữ ấy!

   Is there even more than enough money to buy that thing?

   Lời mẹ dặn không có thừa đâu!

   [Your] mother's advice is not redundant!

   đồ ăn thừa ― leftover food

   vải thừa ― leftover textile

   Bài viết này có nhiều câu thừa.

   This article contains many unnecessary sentences.

thừa

1. (informal) without doubt; surely; certainly

   thừa biết; biết thừa ― to be well aware

   thừa hiểu ― to fully understand

   Nó thừa khôn ngoan để hiểu chuyện ấy.

   He is surely smart enough to understand the matter.

Sino-Vietnamese word from 乘. Its regular reading thặng only occurs in thượng thặng (“first-degree, top-level (adjective); Mahayana (proper noun)”); meanwhile, its irregular reading thừa, which fails to retain Middle Chinese final -ŋ, is acquired from 承 (see etymology 4).

thừa

1. (chiefly in fixed expressions) to take advantage of (an opportunity or situation)

   Hyponym: nhân

   thừa cơ

   to seize an opportunity

   thừa gió bẻ măng

   to seize an opportunity

   (literally, “to take advantage of the wind to snap the bamboo shoot”)

   thừa nước đục thả câu

   to seize an opportunity

   (literally, “to take advantage of the murky water to drop the fishhook”)

   thừa thắng

   to take advantage of a victory

   thừa thế

   to take advantage of a beneficial situation

   thừa dịp

   to take advantage of an occasion

   Thừa lúc đông người, kẻ xấu lẻn vào ăn cắp.

   Taking advantage of the crowd, a bad person sneaked in to steal.

thừa

1. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 乘 (“vehicle”)

   thượng thừa ― “top-notch, top-class (adjective)” ← literally, “superior vehicle (noun)”

   thượng thừa ― synonym of Đại thừa (literally, “superior vehicle”)

   Đại thừa ― Mahayana (literally, “Great vehicle”)

   Thanh Văn thừa ― Śrāvakayāna (literally, “Śrāvaka's vehicle”)

   Duyên Giác thừa ― Pratyekabuddhayāna (literally, “Pratyekabuddha's vehicle”)

thừa

1. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 乘 (“to multiply (arithmetics)”)

Sino-Vietnamese word from 丞.

See etymology 4 for its reading thừa.

thừa

1. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 丞 (“to help, to assist”)

thừa

1. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 丞 (“helper, assistant”)

Sino-Vietnamese word from 承.

Its reading thừa arises from the avoidance of Trần Thừa (陳承)'s naming taboo. 承 originally had the reading thằng which became thừa. The characters 丞 (written as 贊 to avoid the taboo) and 乘 (whose last stroke is omitted in texts), which were similar in pronunciation with 承 at the time, acquired the reading thừa from 承 as well.^[2]

thừa

1. (chiefly in compounds) to receive (something from one's social superior[s]), to accept (something from one's social superior[s])

   thừa lệnh ― to accept order

   thừa ân ― to be grateful (for favor received) (literally, “to receive favor”)

2. (chiefly in compounds) to inherit

   con thừa tự ― heir

3. to obey (one's social superior[s])

   thừa lệnh ― ‘to obey order’ ← ‘to accept order’

   khâm thừa ― to respectfully obey

   phụng thừa ― to obey (someone's order)

thừa

1. (obsolete) short for thừa phái
2. (poetry) shō

• khai (“ki”)
• khởi (“ki”)
• chuyển (“ten”)
• hợp (“gō”)

• “thừa”, in Chunom.net (in Vietnamese)