thư viện
[tʰɨ˧˧ viən˧˨ʔ]
The Vietnamese word for library is thư viện. It is the place that holds books for people to read or borrow.
thư viện is used for both public libraries and school or university libraries.
Meaning: institution which holds books, etc. (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
thư viện is a compound of thư, meaning book or document and viện, meaning institute or academy.
How does it change in a sentence?
Like other Vietnamese nouns, thư viện does not change for plural. The same form works for one library or many.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Keep the tone marks on both syllables. Without them thư viện is hard to read and can be taken for other words.
Did you know?
- The word viện in thư viện can also appear in the names of hospitals, such as bệnh viện, because both a library and a hospital were historically seen as types of 'institutes'.
- In Vietnamese, the word thư does not just mean 'book' but can also refer to a 'letter' or 'mail'. This means the root of thư viện encompasses all forms of written correspondence.
- The word thư viện is a Sino-Vietnamese term, meaning it is derived from Chinese characters. Specifically, it comes from the characters 書院, where 書 means 'book' and 院 means 'court' or 'institute'.
Examples in context
- Thư viện ở đâu?Where is the library at?Thư viện ở đâu? is the simple way to ask where the library is.Tatoeba #13351014 by leucammieuvu, translation #12887905 by Teangloir
- Tom tới thư viện.Tom went to the library.Here thư viện follows the verb tới to say where Tom went.Tatoeba #11475713 by OneJanuary, translation #2545711 by CK
- Thư viện trống không.The library was empty.trống không after Thư viện says the library was empty.Tatoeba #13666117 by leucammieuvu, translation #6088442 by OsoHombre
- Tôi thích đọc sách ở trong thư viện.I enjoy reading books in the library.
- 33 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Nam and Mai are discussing where to study together.
- NamChúng ta đi thư viện không?Shall we go to the library?
- MaiÝ kiến hay đó, Nam.That's a good idea, Nam.
- NamThư viện thành phố rất yên tĩnh.The city library is very quiet.
- MaiĐúng vậy, mình sẽ đi ngay.That's right, let's go now.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “library” translations and entries thư viện, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries thư, thư viện, viện, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
