gầy
Each syllable carries one of six tones; the mark on the vowel tells you which. How the six tones sound →
gầy means thin; skinny.
Meanings of gầy in English
Verb
- dialectal alternative form of gây (“to cause”)
Words with gầy
Example sentences with gầy
- Ông già Noel gầy hay béo? Is Santa Claus thin or fat?
- Chú tôi gầy nhưng dì tôi lại béo. My uncle is thin, but my aunt is fat.
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, gầy could be written as 𤷍, 𤻓, 𤼞. Today Vietnamese is written only in the Latin alphabet.
Usage note: gầy
gầy means "thin, skinny" in the North; in the South the usual word is ốm.
- Sao dạo này em gầy thế? — Why have you got so thin lately?
- Anh ấy cao và gầy. — He's tall and thin.
- gầy đi — lose weight (become thinner)
Compare related words: mảnh mai — slender (positive); gầy — thin (neutral to slightly concerned); gầy gò — scrawny (negative).
Opposite: béo (North) / mập (South) — fat. Saying Em béo lên đấy! (You've put on weight!) is common small talk among Vietnamese and may surprise foreigners.
Remember: in the North, ốm means sick, not thin.
Etymology
From Proto-Austroasiatic *rgɨj (“thin, lean”) (Sidwell, 2024).
Frequently asked questions
What does gầy mean in English?
gầy (adjective) means "thin; skinny".
How do you pronounce gầy?
IPA: Hanoi [ɣəj˨˩]; Saigon [ɣəj˨˩]. Tones: gầy — falling tone (huyền).