trâu

• (certain coastal Northern dialects, endangered) tâu (dialects with /ʈ/-/t/ merger)
• (certain coastal North Central dialects, endangered) tu (dialects with /ʈ/-/t/ merger, no diphthongization)
• (North Central Vietnam) tru (no diphthongization)

From Proto-Vietic *c-luː. Cognate with North Central Vietnamese tru, Muong tlu, Old Mon jlow (“ox, bull, cattle”) (whence Mon ဂၠဴ, Nyah Kur chǝlòw), Mang løː⁶ and Phong-Kniang jlǝːw.

Attested as Northern Middle Vietnamese tlâu in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651). The modern North Central forms are not reflexes of this form, but descended from an unattested non-Northern Middle Vietnamese form.

Khmer ឆ្លូវ (chləw, “Year of the Ox”) was borrowed from a Vietic variety, and thus is not an inherited cognate of the terms listed above.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕəw˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʈəw˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʈəw˧˧]
• Homophone: châu (Northern Vietnam)

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

(classifier con) trâu • (𤛠, 𬌥, 㺏, 𤠋)

1. water buffalo

   trâu trắng ― an albino water buffalo

2. (slang, by extension) cryptomining rig

• nghé (“water buffalo calf”)
• bò (“Southern Yellow bovine”)

trâu

1. (slang, video games) enduring; tough; hard

   Con boss game này trâu quá. ― This game's boss is super tough (to beat).