From Latin labii, the first word of the sixth line of Ut queant laxis, on which the names for the notes of the solfège were based. Compare Italian la and French la.

• IPA^(key): /ˈla/
• Homophone: la

là

1. (music) la, the note 'A'.

• https://infcor.adecec.net/

Inherited from Middle French la, from Old French la, from Latin illāc. The grave accent on the a was added to disambiguate with la (“the”).

• IPA^(key): /la/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• (Quebec), IPA^(key): (formal) /la/ ~ /lɑ/, (informal) /lɔ/
• Homophone: la

là

1. referring to physical place
   1. there

      Antonym: ici

      Je t'attendrai là. ― I'll wait for you there.

   2. here; present (used with être)

      Synonym: ici (with verbs other than être)

      Je suis (toujours) là.

      I'm (still) here.

2. referring to an abstract destination or goal; there

   Je suis presque là. ― I've almost got it. (literally, “I'm almost there.”)

• Some compounds formed with là are traditionally written with hyphens while others are not. Larousse gives a non-exhaustive list which nevertheless illustrates examples of each group, where certain patterns can be detected:

• y (near-synonym in certain contexts)

• “là”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

From Latin illāc. Compare Spanish allá, Portuguese lá, French là.

The original geminated -ll-, though lost in the standard language, is still found in most regional Italian varieties.

• IPA^(key): /ˈla/^*

  • Audio (Italy):

    (file)

• (Romanesco) IPA^(key): ^*/ˈla/^*
• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: là

là

1. there

   Synonym: lì

• See usage notes at lì.

• ehilà

• là in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• là in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

• al

là

1. to come

• la — nonstandard

là (la⁴, Zhuyin ㄌㄚˋ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 剌
2. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 嘑 / 呼
3. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 拉
4. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 揧
5. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 擶
6. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 攋 / 𪮶
7. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 楋
8. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 爉
9. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 瓎
10. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 瘌
11. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 癞
12. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 癤 / 疖
13. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 翂
14. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 腊
15. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 臈 / 腊
16. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 臘 / 腊
17. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 萺
18. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 蜛
19. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 蝋
20. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 蝲
21. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 蠟 / 蜡
22. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 辢
23. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 辣
24. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 鑞 / 镴
25. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 鬎
26. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 鯻 / 𬶟
27. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 蜡

là

1. (late Middle French) alternative form of la (there; at a given location)

• IPA^(key): /laː/

là

1. water

• leng

• José Antonio Salas, Diccionario mochica-castellano, castellano-mochica (2002)

From Proto-Vietic *laː (“to work”). Cognate with Vietnamese là.

• IPA^(key): /laː²/

là

1. (Mường Bi) to do

   Là chi đĩ?

   What are you doing?

   là wiêc ― to work

là

1. (Mường Bi) to be

• Nguyễn Văn Khang, Bùi Chỉ, Hoàng Văn Hành (2002) Từ điển Mường - Việt (Muong - Vietnamese dictionary)‎, Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Văn hoá Dân tộc Hà Nội.

là

1. under, in

là (not comparable)

1. obsolete spelling of lá

From Latin illāc.

là

1. there

From Old Irish lá, which is probably unrelated to laithe (the source of latha).

• IPA^(key): /l̪ˠaː/,

là m (genitive singular là, plural làithean)

1. synonym of latha (“day”)

• Usually used for special days of the calendar.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key):
• (Huế) IPA^(key):
• (Saigon) IPA^(key):

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

• Audio (Saigon):

  (file)

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 羅 (SV: la).

là • (𬗢, 纙, 羅)

1. fine silk
   • 15th century, Nguyễn Trãi, “Ngôn chí 言志 3”, in Quốc âm thi tập (國音詩集):

     𩛷(Bữa)咹(ăn)油(dù)固(có)𦼞(dưa)㙁(muối)
     襖(Áo)默(mặc)奈(nài)之(chi)錦(gấm)羅(là)

     Even if my meals only have pickles ,
     I have no reason to demand good silk for clothing.

• lụa là

From Proto-Vietic *laː (“to work”). Doublet of làm.

là • (羅, 𱺵, 𪜀, 𦉼)

1. (copula) to be
   • 1946 , Tố Hữu, “Từ ấy ”, in Từ ấy :

     Tôi đã là con của vạn nhà
     Là em của vạn kiếp phôi pha
     Là anh của vạn đầu em nhỏ
     Không áo cơm, cù bất cù bơ…

     I have been the son of all families
     Have been the little brother of all fading lives
     Have been the big brother of all the young ones
     Who were starving, shivering and wandering…

• As a copula verb that is somewhat semantically empty. It is not perfectly equivalent to copulae in other languages (such as English be, French être, Japanese です (desu), Hindi है (hai)), as it only links the subject to a noun or noun phrase. Teachers of foreign languages typically translate copulae of those languages to là, but also to thì (for linking to adjectives) to compensate this incompatibility.

• bị
• được
• ở

là

1. Used to indicate something is bound to happen whenever an event occurs

   Cứ vào mùa hè là có mưa. ― Whenever it's summer, it rains. (literally, “When it's in summer is exists rain.”)

   • 2025 March 10, Thảo Nguyễn, Facebook‎ (post):

     Năm nào cũng vậy lúc vào mùa thu hoạch là lúc hạt điều ngon nhất thì lại ế chỏng ế chơ.

     It's the same every year; harvest time is when cashew nuts are most delicious yet unsellable.

     (literally, “It's the same every year; when it's in harvest time is when cashew nuts are most delicious yet unsellable.”)

là

1. Used to form a reduplicative phrase for emphasizing effect.

   toàn thấy người là người ― to see nothing but people.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Attested late, e.g. in Phạm Đình Hổ's Nhật Dụng Thường Đàm (日用常談 "Common Words Used Daily") ().

Compare Hokkien 烙 (lo̍h / lō / lo̍k) or Teochew 烙 (luah⁴ / log⁸).

là • (󱧭)

1. (usually Northern Vietnam) to iron

   Synonym: ủi

   bàn là ― flatiron

   giặt là ― washing and ironing

   máy là tóc ― hair iron

   • 2021 October 31, “8 Cách ủi áo sơ mi không cần bàn ủi, bàn là cực dễ ai cũng làm được ”, in meta.vn‎:

     Bàn là có thể là phẳng quần áo nhờ sử dụng nhiệt độ cao.

     Flatirons can iron clothes smooth by using high heat.

   • 2021 September 20, “Quần áo đi du lịch phẳng phiu, chuyện đơn giản! ”, in Cleanipedia‎:

     Nhiệt độ từ máy sấy tóc sẽ là phẳng quần áo với hiệu quả không kém bàn ủi.

     Heat from the hair-dryer shall iron clothes smooth not less well than a flatiron.

Chữ Nôm character is composed of (⿰火𬙛).

là

1. reduplicant of lạ, only used in là lạ

là

1. to move from a high position downwards and glide close to a flat surface like water or the ground

   Near-synonyms: tà tà, là là

   Một chú chim bay là trên mặt nước. ― A bird glides over the water's surface.

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 冷 (“neglected”, SV: lãnh).

là

1. (fossilized) neglect

• An Chi (2019) “Lắt léo chữ nghĩa: Từ lãnh đến lã”, in Thanh Niên