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be

Level ≈B2 (approx.) adjectivenounverb Top 5,000 most common
Hanoi [ʔɓɛ˧˧]Huế [ʔɓɛ˧˧]Saigon [ʔɓɛ˧˧] browser voice
Syllables · tones
belevelngang

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

be means beige.

Meanings of be in English

Adjective

  1. beige
    • chiếc áo mưa màu bea beige raincoat

Noun

  1. wine flask
    • Rượu ngon chẳng quản be sành.Good wine does not mind a terracotta flask.

Verb

  1. To build a mud embankment with one's hands.
  2. To prop up the lip of a sack while topping off the sack, to ensure a more generous quantity.
    • lấy tay be miệng đấu khi đong đỗto surround the top of a measure with one's hands while measuring beans
    • Đong bình thường, không được be đâu đấy.Measure it out normally; don't prop up the lip of the sack.

Verb

  1. To hug a boundary or riverbank.
    • Thuyền be theo bờ sông.The boat hugged the riverbank.

Interjection

  1. onomatopoeia bleat; baa

Example sentences with be

  • Con lừa đang kêu be be. The donkey is braying.
  • Trong tiếng Thổ Nhĩ Kì, động từ "to be" không có dạng nguyên thể và được diễn tả thông qua hậu tố cho từng ngôi. In Turkish, the verb "to be" has no infinitive form and is expressed through suffixes for each person.

Bilingual example sentences from Tatoeba (tatoeba.org, CC BY 2.0 FR).

Historical script (chữ Nôm / Hán)

Before the Latin alphabet (chữ Quốc ngữ) became standard, be could be written as 𠻻, 𠾦. Today Vietnamese is written only in the Latin alphabet.

Etymology

Borrowed from French beige.

Frequently asked questions

What does be mean in English?

be (adjective) means "beige".

How do you pronounce be?

IPA: Hanoi [ʔɓɛ˧˧]; Saigon [ʔɓɛ˧˧]. Tones: be — level tone (ngang).

Meanings, pronunciation and etymology from English Wiktionary (wiktionary.org, via kaikki.org; CC BY-SA 4.0), reviewed and edited; example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). IPA shown for three accents: Hanoi (Northern), Huế (Central) and Saigon (Southern). The Listen button uses your browser's Vietnamese voice, for reference only. Levels are approximate, estimated from word frequency. Spotted a mistake? Let NgonNgu know.