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cây. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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Vietnamese
- (North Central Vietnam) cân
- (North Central Vietnam) cơn
Etymology
Inherited from Proto-Vietic *gəl ~ *kəl (“tree”). Cognate with Muong câl, cấl, Kha Phong kɨl². Doublet of cấy.
Possibly from Proto-Austroasiatic *kəl (“to fell (trees)”); in that case, cognate with Semai kòl, Temiar kel, Proto-Bahnaric *kal (whence Koho köl), Proto-Katuic *kəl (whence Pacoh câl).
Alternatively, derived from a different root (currently unreconstructed) that yielded Proto-Khmuic *tŋkəl (“stump”) (whence Khmu tŋkɨl), Khmer គល់ (kŭəl), and Mon ဓဂဵု.
Pronunciation
Noun
(classifier cái) cây • (核,荄,𣘃)
- plant with a hard trunk or stem, such as a woody tree or bamboo, as opposed to cỏ (“(soft-stemmed) grass”)
- dưới bóng cây ― under the shade of a tree
- (by extension) plant (including trees and grasses), or more rarely, mushroom
- (colloquial) short for cây số (“kilometre/kimometer”)
Nhà tui cách Sài Gòn cỡ năm chục cây.- My house is about fifty kilometres from Sài Gòn.
Derived terms
See also
Classifier
cây • (核,荄, 𣘃)
- Indicates plants
- Indicates stick/rod-like objects
- Synonym: thanh
- ăn cây ― to get beaten with a stick
- (music) Indicates string instruments and some other types of musical instruments