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khuya

Level ≈B1 (approx.) adjectiveadverbnoun Top 3,000 most common
Hanoi [xwiə˧˧]Huế [kʰwiə˧˧]Saigon [kʰwiə˧˧] browser voice
Syllables · tones
khuyalevelngang

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

khuya means late.

Meanings of khuya in English

Adjective

  1. of night or nightly activities late
    • đêm khuyalate night

Adverb

  1. late at night
    • thức khuyato stay up late

Noun

  1. the hours from midnight to almost dawn
    • ngủ từ sáng đến khuyato sleep from dawn until late at night

Example sentences with khuya

  • Thức khuya có hại cho sức khỏe. Staying up late is harmful to your health.
  • Điều gì khiến bạn thức khuya vậy? What keeps you up so late?
  • Thức khuya không tốt cho sức khỏe. Staying up late is not good for the health.
  • Anh không nên thức quá khuya. You should not stay up too late.
  • Bạn làm gì mà thức khuya quá vậy? What keeps you up so late?
  • Tôi ước gì Tom không hát quá to lúc đêm khuya. I wish Tom wouldn't sing so loudly late at night.
  • Tôi mong sao Tom đừng hát quá to lúc đêm khuya. I wish Tom wouldn't sing so loudly late at night.
  • Lẽ ra tôi đã có thể thức khuya, nhưng tôi quyết định đi ngủ sớm. I could have stayed up late, but I decided to go to bed early.

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, khuya could be written as 𢇡, 𣅘, 𣅙, 𣌉. Today Vietnamese is written only in the Latin alphabet.

Etymology

An Chi (2020) posits this is a non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 虧 (SV: khuy).

Frequently asked questions

What does khuya mean in English?

khuya (adjective) means "late".

How do you pronounce khuya?

IPA: Hanoi [xwiə˧˧]; Saigon [kʰwiə˧˧]. Tones: khuya — 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.