ཟ
za/*za/
The Tibetan verb for 'eat' is ཟ (za).
The word ཟ is used to describe the action of eating a meal.
Meaning: eat a meal (verb)
How does it change in a sentence?
The infinitive form of the verb 'to eat' is ཟ་བ། (za-ba).
How do you pronounce it?
The romanization is za and the IPA is /*za/.
Did you know?
- The word ཟ shares a common ancestor with the Chinese word for 'chew', written as 咀. This shows a deep historical connection between the linguistic roots of the Sino-Tibetan language family.
- The verb ཟ is also used in many honorific contexts to refer to 'taking' or 'receiving' something. In highly formal settings, using a specific honorific version of 'eat' is a way to show respect to the person being served.
- Tibetan cuisine often involves 'Tsampa', a roasted barley flour, which is frequently 'eaten' by mixing it into a dough with a hand rather than using utensils.
Example conversation
Rinchen and Tseringmo are talking about lunch.
- རིནཅེན། Rinchenཚེ་རིང་མོ། ཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་ཁ་ལག་ཟོ།Tseringmo, khyod kyis khalak zoTseringmo, eat your food.
- ཚེ་རིང་མོ། Tseringmoང་ཟོ་འདུགnga zo dugI am eating.
- རིནཅེན། Rinchenག་རེ་ཟོ་ཀྱི་ཡོད།ga re zo kyi yodWhat are you eating?
- ཚེ་རིང་མོ། Tseringmoང་ཐུག་པ་ཟོ་ཀྱི་ཡོད།nga thukpa zo kyi yodI am eating noodles.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry ཟ, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries ཟ, CC BY-SA 4.0.
