Thiêu

Thiêu is a Vietnamese verb meaning to burn, scorch, or incinerate. It is used in formal, literary, or technical language and appears mostly in compounds rather than as a casual everyday verb. Common expressions include thiêu đốt, meaning to set on fire or burn, and thiêu hủy, meaning to destroy by burning. The phrase thiêu thân refers to self-immolation by fire.

Etymology and orthography derive thiêu from Sino-Vietnamese 燒, read in Chinese as shāo (to burn). In Vietnamese, the word is written as thiêu and may appear with tone marks according to standard Vietnamese spelling; it is related to other East Asian terms for burning through shared Chinese characters.

Usage notes emphasize register and nuance. Thiêu tends to carry stronger implications of complete burning, destruction, or ritual and protest contexts, whereas đốt is more common in everyday language for simply burning or lighting a fire. In official or descriptive writing, thiêu đốt and thiêu hủy are frequently used in discussions of arson, war damage, or destruction by fire. The term thiêu thân is a specific and sensitive expression describing self-immolation.

Related concepts include hỏa táng, which denotes cremation by fire in a ritual or cultural context and is distinct from thiêu in both meaning and usage. While thiêu remains present in literature and historical writing, modern Vietnamese often prefers đốt for ordinary burning and uses thiêu in more formal or specialized discourse.