sao

English Online Dictionary. What means sao‎? What does sao mean?

Ilocano

Etymology

From Proto-Philippine *sahuq (“words, speech”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: sa‧o

Noun

sao

1. speech
2. (linguistics) language

3. word

Derived terms

Japanese

Romanization

sao

1. Rōmaji transcription of さお

Mandarin

Romanization

sao

1. Nonstandard spelling of sāo.
2. Nonstandard spelling of sǎo.
3. Nonstandard spelling of sào.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Tagalog

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *sauq. Compare Kapampangan sau, Tausug sāw, and Malay sauh. Doublet of sawo.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /saˈʔo/ [sɐˈʔo]
• Rhymes: -o
• Syllabification: sa‧o

Noun

saó (Baybayin spelling ᜐᜂ) (nautical)

1. mooring cable or chains; cable for mooring ships to the pier when at anchor

Further reading

• “sao”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Anagrams

• aso

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [saːw˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʂaːw˧˧] ~ [saːw˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʂaːw˧˧] ~ [saːw˧˧]

Etymology 1

From Middle Vietnamese ſao.

Attested in Phật thuyết đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh (佛說大報父母恩重經) as 牢 (MC law) (modern SV: lao), so the older form of the word was *C-raːw (where *C is nonspecific consonant). Even after the sound change *C-r- > /ʂ/ had taken place sometime before 17th century, the use of the phonogram 牢 (MC law) continued, so this morpheme was still commonly spelled such in Nôm texts in the 19th-early 20th century.

Most likely a part of the r-series of demonstratives alongside rày, ri, rứa and ru.

Adverb

sao • (牢, 哰, 𣋀, 𫳵)

1. why

   Synonyms: răng, tại sao, vì sao

   • 19th century, Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Tale of Lục Vân Tiên

2. how

   Synonyms: răng, làm sao
3. what; what is it; what now

   Synonyms: làm sao, gì, cái gì

4. whatever

See also

Adjective

sao • (牢, 哰, 𣋀, 𫳵)

1. problematic, bad

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle Vietnamese ſao, from Proto-Vietic *k-raːw. Cognate with Muong khao. Might represent a Kra-Dai or Austronesian substratum, compare Proto-Tai *t.naːwᴬ (“star”), Proto-Hlai *ɾaːw (“star”) and Proto-Austronesian *qajaw (“day”).

It is a semantic loan from English star, in the senses of “celebrity; actor”.

Alternative forms

• (Northeastern Vietnam) thao

Noun

(classifier vì, ngôi) sao • (𣇟, 牢, 𣋀, 𬁖)

1. star (luminous celestial body)
2. asterisk

   toán sao ― an "asterisked" math problem (marked with an asterisk); a difficult math problem

Noun

(classifier ngôi) sao • (𣇟, 牢, 𣋀, 𬁖)

1. star (celebrity)
2. star (actor)

See also

• tinh

Etymology 3

Sino-Vietnamese word from 抄.

Verb

sao

1. (rarely used in isolation) to duplicate; to copy

See also

Etymology 4

Sino-Vietnamese word from 炒.

Verb

sao

1. (chiefly of medical ingredients) to dry with heat in a pan

West Makian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈs̪a.o/

Verb

sao

1. (transitive) to burn
2. (transitive) to roast (over fire)

Conjugation

References

• James Collins (1982) Further Notes Towards a West Makian Vocabulary‎^[1], Pacific linguistics
• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎^[2], Pacific linguistics (as sao and saw)