Where does “phải cái” come from?
phải cái (Vietnamese) comes from Vietnamese phải, from Chinese 派, from English Pi, from Ancient Greek πῖ, from Ancient Greek πεῖ, from Proto-Semitic pay- — the mouth.
phải cái (Vietnamese): Used to introduce a negative statement or clause: what a shame
Definitions
- Used to introduce a negative statement or clause: what a shame
Ancestry of “phải cái”, step by step
phải cái traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Vietnamese phải
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vietnamese | phải | right; correct; obverse |
| 2 | Chinese | 派 | — |
| 3 | English | Pi | The sixteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabets and the seventeenth in Old Greek |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | πῖ | Alternative form of πεῖ |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | πεῖ | pi, the name for the sixteenth letter Π, π of the... |
| 6 | Proto-Semitic | pay- | the mouth |