TuDien.NgonNguViet.comVietnamese ⇄ English dictionary

biết

Level ≈A1 (approx.) verb Top 1,000 most common
Hanoi [ʔɓiət̚˧˦]Huế [ʔɓiək̚˦˧˥]Saigon [ʔɓiək̚˦˥] browser voice
Syllables · tones
biếtrisingsắc

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

biết means to know; to know how to.

Meanings of biết in English

Verb

  1. to know; to be aware of
  2. to know (have sexual relations with)
  3. to learn about; to realize
  4. to know how to; to be able to
    • biết đọcto be able to read
    • biết viếtto know how to write
  5. to have a taste for (an acquired taste)
    • biết ăn mắm tômto like to eat shrimp paste

Words with biết

biết baobiết đâubiết điềubiết mấybiết ơnbiết taybiết tỏnghết biếthiểu biếtnhận biếtphải biếtquen biếtthừa biếtbiết thếbiết chừngbiết chữbiết tuốt

Example sentences with biết

  • Không ai biết cô ấy ở đâu. No one knows where she is.
  • Đố bạn biết đây là cái gì! Can you guess what this is?
  • Chúng ta biết gì về anh ấy? What do we know about him?
  • Tôi biết Tom là một họa sĩ. I know that Tom is a painter.
  • Tôi biết ai sẽ làm điều đó. I know who'll do that.
  • Ai cũng biết là tôi vô tội. Everyone knows I'm innocent.
  • Ý cậu là cậu không biết hả?! What do you mean you don't know?!
  • Ông ta không biết tôi là ai. He doesn't know me.

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, biết could be written as 別, 捌, 𪿍. Today Vietnamese is written only in the Latin alphabet.

Etymology

Norman and Mei (1976), Schuessler (2007), Sagart (2008): Related to Min Chinese 捌 (bā, “to know”) (proto-Min: *pat). The direction of borrowing is debated; Norman and Mei, and Schuessler favour an Austroasiatic origin for this word, and regard Min as a loan. Sagart, on the other hand, proposes that the sense “to know; to recognise” in both Min and Vietnamese is an extension of the sense “to differentiate; to separate” of 別 (OC *N-pret) (B-S), and hence treats V. biết as a non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 別 (SV: biệt), a semantic development shared with Min.

Frequently asked questions

What does biết mean in English?

biết (verb) means "to know; to know how to".

How do you pronounce biết?

IPA: Hanoi [ʔɓiət̚˧˦]; Saigon [ʔɓiək̚˦˥]. Tones: biết — rising tone (sắc).

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.