cái
Mandarin
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Romanization
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 纔/才
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 材
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 犲
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 裁
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 財/财
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 溨
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 㒲
Tày
Pronunciation
- (Thạch An – Tràng Định) IPA(key): [kaːj˧˥]
- (Trùng Khánh) IPA(key): [kaːj˦]
Etymology 1
Verb
cái (盖)
- to place something to cross over a vertical or horizontal gap
- cái đuêy khẩu coóc mạy ― to place a ladder against a tree
- cái cấu ― to build a bridge
- cái slảo khảu rằng lày ― to place a stick to the ant's nest
- to rest on
- cái kha khửn tắng ― to rest one's legs on the chair
- mì ngần mì chèn kha cái kha, bấu ngần bấu chèn kha các pha
- (please add an English translation of this usage example)
Derived terms
Etymology 2
Classifier
cái
Derived terms
References
- Lương Bèn (2011) Từ điển Tày-Việt [Tay-Vietnamese dictionary][1][2] (in Vietnamese), Thái Nguyên: Nhà Xuất bản Đại học Thái Nguyên
- Lục Văn Pảo, Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003) Hoàng Triều Ân, editor, Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày [A Dictionary of (chữ) Nôm Tày][3] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học Xã hội
- Léopold Michel Cadière (1910) Dictionnaire Tày-Annamite-Français [Tày-Vietnamese-French Dictionary][4] (in French), Hanoi: Impressions d'Extrême-Orient
Vietnamese
Pronunciation
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [kaːj˧˦]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [kaːj˨˩˦]
- (Saigon) IPA(key): [kaːj˦˥]
Audio (Hà Nội): (file)
Etymology 1
Cognate with Muong Bi cảy, Tho [Cuối Chăm] keː³, Chut [Mày] kɛ⁴ (Babaev & Samarina, 2018), Chut [Rục] kɛ⁴ (Nguyễn Văn Lợi, 1993).
Often linked with Chinese 個/个 (“one thing; classifier”) (for example, in Alves (2007)); however, as seen with the cognates in the more conservative languages, the earlier vowel can be ascertained to be a monophthongal non-low front vowel, which makes connection with the Chinese term very much doubtful, although semantic influence is still possible.
In Middle Vietnamese, this classifier is also attested to be used for certain animals (e.g. cái kiến (“an ant”), cái baba (“a soft-shell turtle”)). However, in Modern Vietnamese, this function has been completely taken over by the general animate classifier con. Although sometimes characterized as historically being used for animals that are on the smaller size, plenty of small animals took con instead.
In Muong dialects, this usage can also be seen. For example, Muong Bi has cảy lòi (“a wild boar”), cảy ca (“a chicken”).
Classifier
- Indicates an inanimate, tangible thing
- Cái răng cái tóc là góc con người.
- Essentially, teeth and hair tell how good one looks.
- (obsolete) Indicates animals
- Lý hạng ca dao 里巷歌謠 (Folk-ballads from the hamlets and alleys), folio 36a
- 丐𪂲丐𪅥丐𪆯
𫳵𡮠踸𪽣穭翁唉𪂲- Cái cò cái vạc cái nông;
Sao mày giẫm ruộng lúa ông hỡi cò? - The stork, the heron, the pelican;
Why troddest thou on my paddy rice, oh stork?
- Cái cò cái vạc cái nông;
- Lý hạng ca dao 里巷歌謠 (Folk-ballads from the hamlets and alleys), folio 36a
- (colloquial) Precedes another classifier (any one but “cái” itself), effectively acting as a focus marker, sometimes conveying a connotation of deprecation, especially if persons are referred to.
- Cầm cái con dao này đưa cho mẹ.
- Take this knife and hand it to your mom.
- Cái thằng đần thối này!
- You moron!
See also
Noun
- (only in compounds) a thing; a whatsit
- Synonym: đồ
- cái đánh trứng ― a whisk (literally, “the thing for whisking eggs”)
- cái đẹp ― beauty / the Beautiful (literally, “the beautiful thing / the thing of beauty”)
- cái cao cả ― greatness / grandeur / the Sublime (literally, “the great/grand(iose) thing”)
- the solid bits of a broth
- Canh này thì chỉ có nước là ngon, còn cái thì dở ẹc.
- Only the liquid part of this broth tastes good, the solid bits suck.
- (literally, “As for this broth, only the liquid part is good, as for its solid bits, they suck.”)
See also
Etymology 2
From Proto-Vietic *-keːʔ (“woman; female”). Compare gái.
Attested in the title of Phùng Hưng, 布蓋大王 (MC puH kajH dajH hjwang) (SV: Bố Cái Đại Vương), with the first two characters rendering words ancestral to modern vua (“monarch”) and cái ("great, main"), equivalent to the Chinese 大王 next to it, i.e. the title is the phrase "great king/monarch" written in two languages.
Alternative forms
- (North Central Vietnam) cấy
Noun
See also
Adjective
- (of a non-human and non-avian species of animal or plant or their reproductive organs) female
- hoa cái ― carpellate flower; female flower
- nhị cái ― a pistil
- (now chiefly in compounds) big, large, main
- sông cái ― the big river
- ngón chân cái ― the big toe
Synonyms
See also
Prefix
- (Northern Vietnam) Title affixed to rural young girls' names.
- Cái Bống là cái bống bang
- Khéo sảy khéo sàng cho mẹ nấu cơm
- Mẹ Bống đi chợ đường trơn
- Bống ra gánh đỡ chạy cơn mưa ròng.
Synonyms
- Mandarin terms with audio links
- Hanyu Pinyin
- Mandarin non-lemma forms
- Tày terms with IPA pronunciation
- Tày lemmas
- Tày verbs
- Tày terms with usage examples
- Tày classifiers
- Vietnamese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Vietnamese terms with audio links
- Vietnamese lemmas
- Vietnamese classifiers
- Vietnamese terms with usage examples
- Vietnamese terms with obsolete senses
- Vietnamese colloquialisms
- Vietnamese nouns
- Vietnamese terms inherited from Proto-Vietic
- Vietnamese terms derived from Proto-Vietic
- Vietnamese adjectives
- Vietnamese prefixes
- Northern Vietnamese
- vi:Foods
- vi:Female animals