sãi

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Vietnamese

Etymology

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese , (literati, SV: , sỹ)?”

Pronunciation

Noun

sãi (𪧸)

  1. Buddhist monk
    • 16th century, Nguyễn Thế Nghi's (attributed) Tân biên Truyền kỳ mạn lục tăng bổ giải âm tập chú (新編傳奇漫錄增補解音集註), giải âm/translation of “The Tale of the Abandoned Pagoda in Đông Triều” in Truyền kỳ mạn lục ("Casual Record of Transmitted Strange-Tales") by Nguyễn Dữ.
      娓𨪷𩯀共民平㐌姅
      Sãi vãi gọt tóc cùng dân bình đã nửa.
      Those who cut their hair and became Buddhist monks and nuns constituted half of the common populace.
  2. Buddhist temple's warden
    Lắm / Nhiều sãi không ai đóng cửa chùa.
    Everybody's business is nobody's business (literally, many wardens none closes the temple's door).
    Con vua thì lại làm vua;
    Con sãi ở chùa lại quét lá đa.
    A monarch's son shall become a monarch;
    A son of a warden in a Buddhist temple shall sweep banyan leaves.

See also

Derived terms

References

sãi in Hồ Ngọc Đức's The Free Vietnamese Dictionary Project