လှသော
hla.sau:
The English word "beautiful" is translated into Burmese as လှသော (hla.sau:). If unsure, use လှသော. Wiktionary also lists လှပ (hla.pa.).
Meaning: attractive (adj)
Ways to say it
| Burmese | Romanization (Wiktionary) | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| လှသော | hla.sau: | |
| လှပ | hla.pa. | /l̥a̰pa̰/ |
The term is an adjective used to describe something or someone as attractive.
Which one should you use?
While လှသော is the standard form, လှပ is another way to express the concept of being beautiful. In casual speech, the form လှချော is specifically used to describe someone who is both beautiful and possesses a smooth or handsome appearance.
How does it change in a sentence?
When you want to use the adjective as a predicate to say "is beautiful" in spoken Burmese, the form လှသော typically changes to လှတယ် (hla.de).
How do you pronounce it?
hla.sau:
Did you know?
- Traditional Burmese beauty standards often emphasize 'golden' skin, and the word for 'gold' is frequently used as a metaphor for the highest form of beauty.
- In Myanmar, beauty is often described through the concept of အလှ, which can refer not just to physical looks but to a sense of grace and spiritual merit.
- The second part of the word လှပ actually means 'to emit radiance' or 'to shine'.
Example sentences for Burmese are not verified yet.
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about a painting.
- နှင်းနှင်း Hnin Hninဒီပန်းချီကားက လှသောလား။di pan chi kar ka hla thaw lar?Is this painting beautiful?
- ဇော်ဇော် Zaw Zawဟုတ်ကဲ့၊ အရမ်းလှပါတယ်။houk ke, ayan hla par tal.Yes, it is very beautiful.
- နှင်းနှင်း Hnin Hninအရောင်တွေကလည်း လှတယ်။ayaung tway ka lal hla tal.The colors are also beautiful.
- ဇော်ဇော် Zaw Zawဟုတ်တယ်၊ ကျွန်တော် သဘောကျတယ်။houk tal, kyun taw tha baw kya tal.I agree, I like it.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “beautiful” translations and entries လှပ, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries လှပ, CC BY-SA 4.0.
