Etymology 1
Sino-Vietnamese word from 姑.
Noun
cô
- a paternal aunt (father's sister)
Usage notes
- In cô chú (“paternal aunt and her husband”), cô cậu (“you girls and boys”), vợ chồng (“wife and husband”), dì dượng (“maternal aunt and her husband; stepmother and stepfather”), the words for females always come first. In most other phrases, the words for males usually come first, except in certain poetic contexts such as mẹ cha (“mum and dad”) as opposed to the usual cha mẹ (“dad and mum”).
Pronoun
cô
- I/me, your paternal aunt
- Antonyms: cháu, con
- I/me, a woman who's (presumably) slightly younger than either of your parents
- Antonyms: cháu, con
- you, my paternal aunt
- Antonyms: cháu, con
- you, a woman who's (presumably) slightly younger than either of my parents
- Antonyms: cháu, con
- (familiar) you, a female who's (presumably) slightly younger than me
- Synonym: em
- Antonyms: anh, tôi
- (honorific) you, my young mistress, my old master's daughter
- (formal, chiefly in fiction or translation) you, a young adult woman
- Synonym: chị
- Antonym: tôi
- (unfriendly) you, my wife with whom I'm not happy
- Antonym: tôi
- (humorous or ironic) you, Missy or young lady
- Synonym: cô nương
- Antonym: tôi
- (literary) she/her, that young adult woman
Etymology 2
Short for cô giáo (“female teacher”).
Pronoun
cô
- I/me, your older female teacher
- Antonym: em
- you, my older female teacher
- Antonym: em
- you, my or my child's female teacher who's (presumably) as old as or younger than me
- Antonym: tôi
- you, my child's female teacher who's (presumably) slightly older than me
- Antonym: em
- she/her, my/your/our female teacher
Etymology 3
Sino-Vietnamese word from 孤 (“lonesome”).
Pronoun
cô
- (Chinese fiction, humble) I/me
- 14th century, Luo Guanzhong Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ch. 78; 1909 Vietnamese translation by Phan Kế Bính
Hán Trung vương nói: - Cô kết nghĩa với Quan, Trương hai em ở vườn đào, thề cùng sống thác với nhau. Nay Vân Trường chẳng may bị hại, cô sao hưởng phú quý một mình được!- The King of Hanzhong said: - I swore an oath of fraternal rectitude with my two younger oath-brothers Guan, Zhang in the peach garden, pledging to live and die together. Now [Guan] Yunzhang unfortunately has been maliciously murdered, how can I enjoy riches by myself?