Where does “thì phải” come from?
thì phải (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.
thì phải (Vietnamese): Used to indicate one's decent affirmation, yet with a need to confirm further from their speaking partner: possibly
Definitions
- Used to indicate one's decent affirmation, yet with a need to confirm further from their speaking partner: possibly
Ancestry of “thì phải”, step by step
thì phải 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 |