sở thú

Level ≈B2 (approx.) noun Top 5,000 most common

Hanoi [səː˧˩ tʰu˧˦]Huế [ʂəː˧˨ tʰʊw˨˩˦]Saigon [ʂəː˨˩˦ tʰʊw˦˥] browser voice

Syllables · tones

sởdippinghỏi thúrisingsắc

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

sở thú means zoo.

Meanings of sở thú in English

Noun

Southern Vietnam, colloquial zoo ≈ vườn bách thú thảo cầm viên
- Ê bữa đi sở thú thấy mới rinh về con này nom hay hay nè.You know, the other day when I went to zoo, I saw that they have this new funny-looking animal.

Example sentences with sở thú

Tôi đã đi sở thú hôm qua. I went to the zoo yesterday.
Ở sở thú có gấu mèo. There are raccoons at the zoo.
Từ nhà bạn đến sở thú là bao xa? How far is it from your house to the zoo?
Tôi rất thích đi sở thú để xem sư tử. I love going to the zoo to see lions.
Sở thú mở cửa từ mười giờ kém mười lăm đến chín giờ mười lăm. The zoo is open from a quarter to ten until a quarter past nine.

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, sở thú could be written as 所獸. Today Vietnamese is written only in the Latin alphabet.

Etymology

sở (“department, place”) + thú (“animal”), literally "department/place of animals".

Frequently asked questions

What does sở thú mean in English?

sở thú (noun) means "zoo".

How do you pronounce sở thú?

IPA: Hanoi [səː˧˩ tʰu˧˦]; Saigon [ʂəː˨˩˦ tʰʊw˦˥]. Tones: sở — dipping tone (hỏi), thú — 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.