Tiếng Việt · Word Historical

trẫm

[t͡ɕəm˦ˀ˥]

Preserved but no longer current.

Sense 1

Meaning · English

(pronoun) I; me (similar to the royal we)

Where it’s used: Used Toàn quốc & hải ngoại · Vietnam-wide & diaspora

Examples

Trẫm là Thủy Hoàng Đế, các đời sau cứ theo số mà tính: Nhị Thế, Tam Thế đến Vạn Thế truyền mãi không cùngWe ourselves shall be called First Emperor, and successive generations shall be numbered consecutively: Second, Third, and so on until for 1,000 or 10,000 generations, the succession passing down without end.

Trẫm là người thế nào, mà mệnh trời trao cho chức Đế Vương? Và trẫm nhờ ở điểm nào mà dựng nên được công nghiệp lớn này?What kind of man am I, that by the Mandate of Heaven (I) have been granted Emperorship and Kingship? And what personal qualities have I relied on to build up all these great achievements and merits?

Quoted attestation: Qin Shi Huang, quoted in c. 91 BCE, Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian; 1971 English translation by Burton Watson; Vietnamese translation by Phan Ngọc

Sources & notes

Imported from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); community review pending. source ↗

Sense 2

Meaning · English

(verb) to drown oneself

Examples

late 17th - early 18th c., anonymous author, Thiên Nam Ngữ Lục Ngoại Kỷ (Peripheral Records in the Language of the Southern Sky)She then drowned herself in the river; her fair spirit a-fleeting, her rosy cheeks a-drifting

Wiktionary example (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Common questions

What does “trẫm” mean?

(pronoun) I; me (similar to the royal we)

Is “trẫm” formal or informal?

trẫm is generally formal.

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