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sao

Level ≈A1 (approx.) adverbnounadjective Sino-Vietnamese Top 1,000 most common
Hanoi [saːw˧˧]Huế [ʂaːw˧˧]Saigon [ʂaːw˧˧] browser voice
Syllables · tones
saolevelngang

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

sao means why; how; star.

Chinese characters: 抄

Meanings of sao in English

Adverb

  1. why ≈ răngtại saovì sao
    • Sao nó bảo không đến?Why did he say he wouldn’t come?
  2. how ≈ rănglàm sao
    • Sao tao biết được?How should I know?
    • Sao làm được hay vậy?How did you do that?
  3. what; what is it; what now ≈ làm saogìcái gì
  4. whatever
    • Sao cũng được.Whatever / Anything will do.

Noun

  1. star (luminous celestial body)
  2. asterisk
    • toán saoan "asterisked" math problem (marked with an asterisk); a difficult math problem

Noun

  1. star (celebrity)
  2. star (actor)

Adjective

  1. problematic, bad
    • Có sao lắm không?Is it very bad?
    • Không sao đâu.No problem.

Verb

  1. of medical ingredients to dry with heat in a pan

Verb

  1. rare, used in isolation to duplicate; to copy

Words with sao

dù saokhông saolàm saotại saochòm saodấu saogà saosao băngsao chổisao đỏSao Kimsao Mộcsao xẹtsiêu saobản saosao chépsao Hỏasao biểnsao kêsao lasao lùnsao saosao đen

Example sentences with sao

  • Sao cô ta lại ở đây chứ? Why is she here?
  • Nhỡ cô ấy từ chối thì sao? And what if she rejects me?
  • Cái đó bạn tự nghĩ ra sao? Did you come up with that on your own?
  • Để tôi thử tự làm xem sao. Let me try doing it by myself.
  • Sao lại có người bắt cóc họ? Why would anybody kidnap them?
  • Ở công ty sao rồi, ổn không? Is everything OK at the office?
  • Thực sự bạn phải rời đi sao? Do you really have to leave?
  • Tối nay đi xem phim thì sao? What about going to a film tonight?

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, sao could be written as 牢, 哰, 𣋀, 𫳵. Today Vietnamese is written only in the Latin alphabet.

Etymology

Attested as ſao in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651).

Frequently asked questions

What does sao mean in English?

sao (adverb) means "why; how; star".

How do you pronounce sao?

IPA: Hanoi [saːw˧˧]; Saigon [ʂaːw˧˧]. Tones: sao — level tone (ngang).

Is sao a Sino-Vietnamese word?

Yes. sao is a Sino-Vietnamese word from the Chinese characters 抄.

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.