ཁ་བཙུམས།
kha tsum
The English phrase "shut up" is translated into Tibetan as ཁ་བཙུམས། (kha tsum).
This phrase is used to command someone to stop talking. It is an interjection.
Meaning: "Stop talking." (intj)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of ཁ་ (kha), meaning 'mouth' and བཙུམས (tsum), meaning 'to close' or 'to shut'.
How do you pronounce it?
kha tsum
Did you know?
- The concept of 'closing the mouth' is also metaphorically used in Tibetan Buddhist texts to describe the cessation of all sensory distractions, not just literal silence.
- If you use this phrase with a monk or a person of high status, it is not just rude, it is seen as a profound lack of spiritual discipline.
- The verb བཙུམས can also describe the physical act of gathering or condensing things together, making the phrase literally imply 'bundling' the mouth shut.
Example conversation
Two friends are arguing about a movie.
- རིནཅེན། Rinchenའདི་ནི་སྙན་མ་རེད།adi ni snyan ma red.This is not good.
- ལྷ་མོ། Lhamoཁ་བཙུམས། ང་ལ་སྤྲོ་པོ་འདུགkha btsums! nga la spro po 'dug.Shut up! I enjoy it.
- རིནཅེན། Rinchenཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་ནོར་བར་བརྗོད་ཀྱིས།khyod kyis nor bar brjod kyis.You are speaking wrongly.
- ལྷ་མོ། Lhamoང་ལ་གསུམ་པ་མ་བརྗོད།nga la gsum pa ma brjod.Don't talk back to me.
