How to Say "Humble" in Vietnamese

khiêm tốn

[xiəm˧˧ ton˧˦]

The Vietnamese word for humble is khiêm tốn.

khiêm tốn is an adjective used to describe the positive trait of thinking lowly of oneself or being modest.

Meaning: thinking lowly of oneself (adj)

Which one should you use?

Use khiêm tốn to describe a person's positive trait of being modest, whereas hạ thấp is used for the action of belittling or lowering something.

To express degree, you can add the adverb rất (very) before khiêm tốn to say rất khiêm tốn (very humble).

In Vietnamese culture, being khiêm tốn often involves a specific social ritual of rejecting compliments several times before finally accepting them.
If you describe a person as 'khiêm tốn', you are complimenting their character, but if you describe an object or a value as 'khiêm tốn', you are often using a polite euphemism for 'small' or 'limited'.
The word khiêm tốn is a Sino-Vietnamese compound where the second syllable tốn derives from different Chinese characters depending on the linguistic context, one of which means 'to diminish' or 'to lose'.

Sự khiêm tốn là một phẩm chất quan trọng trong văn hoá Việt Nam.
Humility is an important trait in Vietnamese culture.
Khi nói về chính mình, hãy luôn khiêm nhường mà không tự cao tự đại.
When talking about yourself, always be humble and not boastful.
Anh ấy rất khiêm tốn.
He is very humble.
Cô ấy luôn khiêm tốn về thành công của mình.
She is always humble about her success.
Dù giỏi nhưng ông ấy vẫn rất khiêm tốn.
Even though he is talented, he is still very humble.

Hùng and Hương are talking about Hùng's recent success at work.

Sources

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