tham

Level ≈B2 (approx.) verbnoun Sino-Vietnamese Top 5,000 most common

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

Syllables · tones

thamlevelngang

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

tham means to covet; to be greedy; to lust after.

Chinese characters: 貪

Meanings of tham in English

Verb

to covet, to be greedy, to lust after

Verb

in compounds to participate in, to engage in

Noun

in compounds chief clerk; councillor, adviser

Words with tham

tham ăn tham dục tham lam tham nhũng tham ô tham tài tham tàn tham vọng tham chiến tham chiếu tham dự tham gia tham khảo tham luận tham mưu tham mưu trưởng tham quan tham số tham vấn

Idioms and sayings with tham

tham thì thâm — grasp all, lose all

Historical script (chữ Nôm / Hán)

Before the Latin alphabet (chữ Quốc ngữ) became standard, tham could be written as 𮚃. Today Vietnamese is written only in the Latin alphabet.

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 貪.

Frequently asked questions

What does tham mean in English?

tham (verb) means "to covet; to be greedy; to lust after".

How do you pronounce tham?

IPA: Hanoi [tʰaːm˧˧]; Saigon [tʰaːm˧˧]. Tones: tham — level tone (ngang).

Is tham a Sino-Vietnamese word?

Yes. tham is a Sino-Vietnamese word from the Chinese characters 貪.

Meanings, pronunciation and etymology from English Wiktionary (wiktionary.org, via kaikki.org; CC BY-SA 4.0), reviewed and edited. 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.