Where does “đổ bể” come from?
đổ bể (Vietnamese) comes from Vietnamese bé, from French beige, from Middle French beige, from Old French bege, from Vulgar Latin bysseus, from Latin byssus, from Ancient Greek βύσσος, from Hebrew בּוּץ — byssus.
đổ bể (Vietnamese): to fail
Definitions
- to fail
Ancestry of “đổ bể”, step by step
đổ bể traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Vietnamese bé
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vietnamese | bé | small; little; tiny; little; very young; Short... |
| 2 | French | beige | beige |
| 3 | Middle French | beige | — |
| 4 | Old French | bege | color of undyed wool or cotton |
| 5 | Vulgar Latin | bysseus | cottony grey; cotton-coloured |
| 6 | Latin | byssus | byssus or sea silk |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | βύσσος | flax; linen; Levant cotton |
| 8 | Hebrew | בּוּץ | byssus |
via Vietnamese đỏ
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vietnamese | đỏ | red; burning; flaring up; lucky; fortunate |
| 2 | French | dose | proportion; dose; first-person singular present... |
| 3 | Latin | dosis | dose |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | δόσις | giving, a gift; license, permission; portion |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | δίδωμι | I give, present, offer; I grant, allow, permit;... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | dédeh₃ti | to be giving |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | deh₃- | to give |