bèo

Q: How do you pronounce bèo?

IPA: Hanoi [ʔɓɛw˨˩]; Saigon [ʔɓɛw˨˩]. Tones: bèo — falling tone (huyền).

Q: What classifier is used with bèo?

Common classifiers: cây, lá, miếng — for example "một cây bèo" (one duckweed).

nounadjective

Hanoi [ʔɓɛw˨˩]Huế [ʔɓɛw˦˩]Saigon [ʔɓɛw˨˩] browser voice

Syllables · tones

bèofallinghuyền

Each syllable carries one of six tones; the mark on the vowel tells you which. How the six tones sound →

bèo means duckweed.

Classifier: cây, lá, miếng — e.g. một cây bèo (one duckweed)

Meanings of bèo in English

Noun

duckweed

Adjective

slang cheap, low quality

Words with bèo

bánh bèo bèo tây bèo cái

Historical script (chữ Nôm / Hán)

Before the Latin alphabet (chữ Quốc ngữ) became standard, bèo could be written as 苹, 䕯, 瓢. Today Vietnamese is written only in the Latin alphabet.

Etymology

Norman & Mei (1976) proposes a native Austroasiatic origin and compares it to Mon ဗေဝ် (“to ride low in the water”) (< Proto-Mon-Khmer *ber (“to float”)); they also consider Chinese 薸 (OC *bew) to be a loanword from Austroasiatic.

Frequently asked questions

What does bèo mean in English?

bèo (noun) means "duckweed".

How do you pronounce bèo?

IPA: Hanoi [ʔɓɛw˨˩]; Saigon [ʔɓɛw˨˩]. Tones: bèo — falling tone (huyền).

What classifier is used with bèo?

Common classifiers: cây, lá, miếng — for example "một cây bèo" (one duckweed).

Meanings, pronunciation and etymology from English Wiktionary (wiktionary.org, via kaikki.org; CC BY-SA 4.0), reviewed and edited. IPA shown for three accents: Hanoi (Northern), Huế (Central) and Saigon (Southern). The Listen button uses your browser's Vietnamese voice, for reference only. Spotted a mistake? Let NgonNgu know.