sơ khai

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 初 (“beginning”) and 開 (“to start; to open”), calque of Chinese 開初／开初 (khai sơ, “originally; early”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [səː˧˧ xaːj˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʂəː˧˧ kʰaːj˧˧] ~ [səː˧˧ xaːj˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʂəː˧˧ kʰaːj˧˧] ~ [səː˧˧ xaːj˧˧]

Adjective

sơ khai

1. initial; primordial; original; early

   Trái Đất sơ khai ― Primordial Earth

   Tế bào sơ khai ― The Protocell (the original cell)

Noun

(classifier tờ, bài) sơ khai

1. (figurative) a stub (as an early, incomplete composition)