Where does “pê phở” come from?
pê phở (Vietnamese) comes from Vietnamese phở, from Vietnamese vô, from Vietnamese vụ, from Chinese 務, from Sino-Tibetan *mow.
Ancestry of “pê phở”, step by step
pê phở traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Vietnamese phở
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Vietnamese | phở | pho; to clear |
| 2 | Vietnamese | vô | to enter; to go into; to toast; emphasizing... |
| 3 | Vietnamese | vụ | season; case, affair; specialized department... |
| 4 | Chinese | 務 | — |
| 5 | Sino-Tibetan | *mow | — |
via Vietnamese pê
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Vietnamese | pê | The name of the Latin-script letter P |
| 2 | French | pé | The name of the Latin-script letter P |