tổng thống

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 總統, from Chinese 總統. Compare Japanese 総統 (sōtō, “führer”).

Pronunciation

  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [təwŋ͡m˧˩ tʰəwŋ͡m˧˦]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [təwŋ͡m˧˨ tʰəwŋ͡m˦˧˥]
  • (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [təwŋ͡m˨˩˦ tʰəwŋ͡m˦˥]

Noun

tổng thống

  1. (of a state identified as capitalist) a president
    Tổng thống Mỹ
    President of the United States
    Tổng thống Pháp
    President of France

Usage notes

  • Both chủ tịch and tổng thống translate to the English "president", but chủ tịch is used strictly to refer to the leaders of a few self-proclaimed "socialist"/"communist" countries who are not actually elected, but appointed by the ruling political party, and then formally "re-elected" by representatives in the party; while tổng thống refers to elected leaders in democracies. While the use of "president" as a translation of chủ tịch is usually subject for mockery in Western media, the distinction is made abundantly clear in Vietnam, and possibly in China.
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