Where does “biết bao” come from?
biết bao (Vietnamese) comes from Vietnamese báo, from Chinese 豹, from Chinese 駁, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *prawk — to be speckled, variegated, spotted.
biết bao (Vietnamese): “(who) knows how many/how much”; so many; so much; how (beautiful, etc.)
Definitions
- “(who) knows how many/how much”; so many; so much; how (beautiful, etc.)
Ancestry of “biết bao”, step by step
biết bao traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Vietnamese báo
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vietnamese | báo | a leopard; a spotted panther; a jaguar or a snow... |
| 2 | Chinese | 豹 | — |
| 3 | Chinese | 駁 | — |
| 4 | Proto-Sino-Tibetan | *prawk | to be speckled, variegated, spotted |
via Vietnamese biết
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vietnamese | biết | to know; to be aware of; to learn about; to... |