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dấu

Level ≈B1 (approx.) nounverb Top 3,000 most common
Hanoi [zəw˧˦]Huế [jəw˨˩˦]Saigon [jəw˦˥] browser voice
Syllables · tones

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

dấu means mark; sign.

Meanings of dấu in English

Noun

  1. mark, sign
  2. diacritic
  3. colloquial tone ≈ thanh điệuthanh

Verb

  1. archaic to love

Words with dấu

Example sentences with dấu

  • Dấu chân tội phạm để lại. The criminal left footprints.
  • Tiếng Anh không có dấu phụ. There's no diacritics in English.
  • Tôi đã mất dấu Tom. I lost sight of Tom.
  • Tôi đã để ý thấy một loạt dấu chân mới trên tuyết. I noticed a new set of footprints in the snow.
  • Tom đã cẩn thận lau sạch dấu vân tay của mình trên con dao. Tom carefully wiped his fingerprints off the knife.
  • Chú ý: Những ký tự không được hỗ trợ sẽ hiển thị bằng dấu "_". Warning: unsupported characters are displayed using the '_' character.
  • Kẻ sát nhân bị phát hiện nhờ vào dấu chân để lại ở hiện trường. The killer was identified thanks to footprints left at the scene.
  • Tiếng Trung khi viết thì không có dấu cách giữa các chữ và từ liền nhau. Chinese is written without spaces between successive characters and words.

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, dấu could be written as 𧿫, 𨁪, 𢰳, 𨣥. Today Vietnamese is written only in the Latin alphabet.

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *k-toːʔ (“trace, footprint”); compare North Central Vietnamese đấu, Chut [Rục] kataw³ and Arem dawˀ. The meaning "tone" is due to the fact that tones are usually marked with diacritics.

Frequently asked questions

What does dấu mean in English?

dấu (noun) means "mark; sign".

How do you pronounce dấu?

IPA: Hanoi [zəw˧˦]; Saigon [jəw˦˥]. Tones: dấu — 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.