lâu

Level ≈A1 (approx.) adverb Top 1,000 most common

Hanoi [ləw˧˧]Huế [ləw˧˧]Saigon [ləw˧˧] browser voice

Syllables · tones

lâulevelngang

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

lâu means long.

Meanings of lâu in English

Adverb

of time long
- Xương rồng lâu lâu cũng cần tưới nước.Even cacti need to be watered sometimes.

Words with lâu

bao lâu lâu dài lâu la lâu đài lâu lâu lâu ngày lâu đời

Example sentences with lâu

Có lẽ Tom sẽ ở đây lâu. Tom will probably be here for a long time.
Điều này còn lâu mới hoàn hảo. This is far from perfect.
Tôi không muốn đợi lâu như vậy. I don't want to wait that long.
Lâu rồi Tom không gặp lại Mary. Tom hasn't seen Mary in a while.
Tom thường tắm lâu dưới vòi sen. Tom often takes long showers.
Tôi có cái này lâu rồi. I've had this for a long time.
Bọn tôi ở Boston khá lâu. We've spent a lot of time in Boston.
Tôi thức lâu nhất có thể. I stayed awake as long as I could.

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, lâu could be written as 娄, 婁, 楼, 𥹰. Today Vietnamese is written only in the Latin alphabet.

Etymology

From Proto-Mon-Khmer *ləwʔ; cognates include Muong lô, Mon လံ (lòˀ, “long (time)”) (Shorto 2006, #1856).

Frequently asked questions

What does lâu mean in English?

lâu (adverb) means "long".

How do you pronounce lâu?

IPA: Hanoi [ləw˧˧]; Saigon [ləw˧˧]. Tones: lâu — 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.