tứ

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [tɨ˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [tɨ˨˩˦]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [tɨ˦˥]

• Audio (Hà Nội)

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Sino-Vietnamese word from 四.

tứ

1. (Sino-Vietnamese numeral) four

• Like all Sino-Vietnamese numerals smaller than triệu (“million”), the "standard" reading tứ itself is never used as a cardinal number (for counting, etc.), where native numerals are used instead; its use therefore is restricted to compounds.

  bốn căn nhà (never *tứ/tư căn nhà) ― four houses

• However, the variant tư is used in titles (e.g. chú tư) and in forming numerals bigger than 10.

  bốn mươi tư ― forty-four

• Comparing to Chinese and other Sino-Xenic languages, there is little to no taboo regarding the number "four" (tetraphobia) in Vietnamese. In fact, tứ/tư is actually one of the few Sino-Vietnamese numerals that enjoy usages outside of fixed compounds, and the one of the two Sino-Vietnamese items (along không (“zero”)) that had penetrated into the (lower) cardinal counting system, where it coexists with native bốn.

• bốn; tư

tứ

1. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 思 (“thought”)