thầy

• (Northern Vietnam, obsolete in writing) thày

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 師 (SV: sư). Doublet of sư. Feudal Han or Nom teachers were generally male, hence the strictly modern use for male teachers.

The written form thày used to be common in the Northern dialects, now mostly eradicated in writing, although the pronunciation itself likely still remains in less mainstream Northern dialects.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [tʰəj˨˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [tʰəj˦˩]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [tʰəj˨˩]

• Audio (Hà Nội)

  (file)

thầy • (柴, 偨)

1. a male teacher

   Synonym: thầy giáo

2. (history, now literary) a teacher

   Muốn sang thì bắc cầu kiều
   Muốn con hay chữ thì yêu lấy thầy

   Want to cross a river? Build a bridge
   Want your children educated? Show their teacher some love

3. (dialectal, Northern Vietnam) a father

   thầy mẹ/u ― parents

4. (only in compounds) Buddhist monk; expert

   thầy cãi ― a lawyer

   thầy lang ― a practitioner of East Asian alternative medicine

thầy

1. I/me, your male teacher
2. you, my male teacher
3. he/him, that male teacher we're talking about
4. (dialectal, Northern Vietnam) I/me, your father
5. (dialectal, Northern Vietnam) you, my father
6. (dialectal, Northern Vietnam) he/him, your/my father

• mẹ; u (“mother”)
• cô (“female teacher”)