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thánh

Level ≈B2 (approx.) adjectivenoun Sino-Vietnamese Top 5,000 most common
Hanoi [tʰajŋ̟˧˦]Huế [tʰɛɲ˦˧˥]Saigon [tʰan˦˥] browser voice
Syllables · tones

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

thánh means holy; sacred; saintly.

Chinese characters: 聖

Meanings of thánh in English

Adjective

  1. holy; sacred; saintly
    • nước thánhholy water
  2. Southern Vietnam, informal naive, credulous, gullible, daft, silly
    • Mày thánh quá! Nghĩ sao đứa ngu như nó mà làm được bài này!?How silly you are! How can you think that an idiot like him/her could finish this assignment!?

Noun

  1. chiefly Confucianism a sage
  2. a saint
    • Thánh Phan-xi-côSaint Francis
  3. Southern Vietnam, informal idiot, moron, dullard, fool, simpleton, cretin
    • Kêu hai thánh đó ra dùm tui dới!Call those two cretins out [here] for me!

Words with thánh

Example sentences with thánh

  • Vùng đất này không bán vì nó là đất thánh và là đất cấm. This land is not for sale because it is sacred and forbidden.

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, thánh could be written as 圣, 垩, 𠄵. Today Vietnamese is written only in the Latin alphabet.

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 聖.

Frequently asked questions

What does thánh mean in English?

thánh (adjective) means "holy; sacred; saintly".

How do you pronounce thánh?

IPA: Hanoi [tʰajŋ̟˧˦]; Saigon [tʰan˦˥]. Tones: thánh — rising tone (sắc).

Is thánh a Sino-Vietnamese word?

Yes. thánh is a Sino-Vietnamese word from the Chinese characters 聖.

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.