Vietnamese Etymology Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 初 (“a long time ago; original”, SV: sơ). Pronunciation (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [sɨə˧˧] (Huế) IPA(key): [sɨə˧˧] (Saigon) IPA(key): [sɨə˧˧] Adjective xưa • (初, 𠸗, 𫋶) old; ancient Noun xưa • (初, 𠸗, 𫋶) a long time ago; old times Antonym: nayWikiwand - on Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.