Want to try our reversatile English » Chinese » Vietnamese » 简体字?

Quick references
Từvựng HánViệt và HánNôm đangđược yêucầu bổsung
Liệtkê những từ đượcxem nhiềunhất trong tuần nầy
What Makes Chinese So Vietnamese?
Xinmời đónggóp từmới hoặc ýkiến của bạn trên Diễnđàn tiếngViệt.

Quick references:

Overall, Chinese-Vietnamese etymological work should be treated like that of translation. What we are actually looking into are equivalent concepts instead of word to word glossary. That is to say, a Chinese character that appears in a Vietnamese word may also serve as a syllabic stem in other word formation in Vietnamese, hence, its etymon, a Chinese cognate to those cited Vietnamese words despite of its recurring frequency. For instance, 順 shùn (SV thuận) in 順便 shùnbiàn (sẵntiện, luôntiện) apparently is an etymon for both 'sẵn' and 'luôn' while 順 in 順利 shùnlì (suônsẻ) and 孝順 xiàoshùn (hiếuthảo) further gives rise to 'suôn' and 'thảo'. Restricting ourselves only to one-to-one relationship will certainly limit the abilility in our search of many Vietnamese words which have Chinese roots appearing in different forms and guises. So let's not be so rigid to keep insisting on some word like 成 chéng (SV thành) to be the one and only for 'sẵn', since, being so, we will miss 成 chéng as 'xong'.

In our etymological enumeration for each lexical entry, some conventions are utilized to purport arguments for its possibility. Below are some of most commonly used abbreviations and symbols.

1. Viet., or tiếngViệt, or Vietnamese, indicates that a cited word only appears in Vietnamese usage. It may be limited to only an equivalent to the meaning as that of the Mandarin with no demonstrated etymological or phonological relationship, e.g. "em" as opposed to 弟 dì (đệ), 妹 mēi (muội), etc. However, in most of the cases, such equivalent may also be constructed with Chinese material, for instance, "ôngnội" (内公 nèigōng, which had been likely in use in ancient time in parallel with "ôngngoại" 外公 wàigōng ) in place of the modern Mandarin "爺爺 yéye (giagia)".
2. (xxxx), parentheses, signify the HánViệt (Sino-Vietnamese) sound of a cited word under investigation. This sound is a direct variant and its pronunciation is considered very close to that of Middle Chinese, or Tang Dynasty's Mandarin. In modern Vietnamese a large number of Sino-Vietnamese words are still being in active use. Parentheses are also used to expand further explanation or annotation. Entires appearing with HánViệt sounds only mean they need no further explanation since they are certainly originated from Chinese, or Middle Chinese specifically. In this research we devote spaces to discuss the HánNôm, herein defined as Sinitic-Vietnamese or Vietnamese words that have Chinese origin but look like original indigenous Vietnamese words, including those words of Chinese origin but are not considered as HánViệt, or Sino-Vietnamese, words.
3. [xxxx], square brackets, contain inside them all interpretation and explanation how cited words in both Vietnamese and Chinese are cognate or etymologically related.
4. Vh, or Việthoá, means lexical localization and renovation. This process could have developed since the ancient time or is currently taking place. Starting with an original Chinese loanword, Vietnamese native speakers can vigorously vocalize, substitute, diversify, accentuate, or, simply put, "Vietnamize" it, for example, 心 xīn (SV tâm) evolving into 'tim, lòng', 粉 fén (phấn) into bột, bún, phở, bụi, etc. while in other cases we may often find other variant cognates for those very same words.
5. hđ., or "hiệnđại", means "modern". This signifies the cited Vietnamese word currently in use is etymologically quite different from that of modern Mandarin, but, again, that word can also be coined with Chinese material.
6. @, stands for lexical association. This is the process of assimilation of a Chinese word with a similar one, either in sound or meaning or both, in Vietnamese, for example, "mắtkính, mắtkiếng" 目鏡 mùjìng (SV mụckính = Hainanese /matkeŋ/) for 眼鏡 yănjìng (SV nhãnkính), "casĩ" 歌士 gēshì for 歌手 gēshǒu (SV cathủ) or 歌星 gēxīng (catinh), etc.
7. & indicates that the cited word is formed by conbining with two or more Chinese characters and the whole word is etymologically not related to the referenced Mandarin, but that Vietnamese word can be coined with, mostly, words of Chinese origin.
8. # means "in reverse order" (metathesis). Lexically, with exceptions of a few, modern Vietnamese compounds and disyllabic words built with Chinese elements have their syllabic elements and morphemes put in reverse order with those of the Chinese equivalents. Some of these words have been renovated and their original meanings might have changed significantly beyond recoginiton while a majority of derived words just varies very slightly in their associated meaning. That is to say, that cited Vietnamese word that is actually originated from that same associated Chinese loanword etymologically appear only in reverse order. That phenomenon has occurred in order to fit into the local speech habit where, semantically, in a multisyllabic word a syllabic stem commonly comes before its predicative modifer. In many cases it is easy to recognize their changing position, for example, "thiệtsự" originates from 事實 shìshí (SV sựthật) because in reality there exist 實事 shíshì (SV thựcsự) in Chinese. Unfortunately, however, in many other cases, a reversed version in Vietnamese is hard to be reconciled with the multi-syllabic Chinese root without close examination to be coupled with generous speculation and interpretation.
9. QT stands for Quanthoại, meaning [Chinese] "official language", a common Vietnamese word for modern Mandarin. Mandarin is a relatively new development, probably having come into shape in the 11th century towards the end of Song Dynasty, from a northern China's vernacular language, somewhat resembling today's Bejing diaclect. Mandarin is chosen here for citation since it is currently considered as a representative for the modern sounds of modern Chinese dialects. It is widely used and well known to any Chinese specialists and interested readers alike. However, only some of Vietnamese etymons of Chinese origin are directly derived from Mandarin. In this etymological aspect, it had directly evolved from both Old and Middle Chinese, of which the latter had been, in turn, originated direct from the former, also known as Ancient Chinese. Both of these old Chinese forms had given rise to an enormous amount of today's Vietnamese lexicons. As a results, we are able to trace the evolving path of both Chinese and Vietnamese etymology based on ancient Chinese literary records.
10. \ symbol dictates that a cited Vietnamese word which is considered of Chinese origin has happened only under an express condition that follows.
11. VHh, or ViệtHánhoá, means a cited Vietnamese word has been assimilated or associated with another Sino-Vietnamese words of similar sounds and meanings, which in Chinese themselves might have been cognates, or words of the same source.
12. Nh, or Nômhoá, indicates that a cited Vietnamese word has been totally "Vietnamized" or built with Vietnamse lexically modified elements, which are not etymologically related to its cited Chinese counterpart.
13. < means "evolved from" or " originated from".
14. ~ means "gives rise to" or "a variation of".
15. = means "is equal to" or "an equivalent of".
16. MC means Middle Chinese. This reconstructed sound resembles that of today's Sino-Vietnamese sound the most, which, in turn, is directly evolved from the Old Chinese.
17. OC, means Old Chinsese, also known as Ancient Chinese. This is the reconstructed sound of how a cited Chinese character is believed to be pronounced in ancient time, mostly during the Qin-Han Dynasty period, more than 2000 years ago. The OC reconstruction work cited in this research is taken from many different sources done by several renown Chinese linguists.
18. * or ** indicates relative reconstructed sound values of Ancient or Proto-Chinese. In any cases, as there appear several diffenrent versions of the same Chinese character under investigation, these reconstructed sounds should not be considered as absolute and totally correct since that character could have pronounced diffrently in certain time and locality. However, most of those ancient sounds as reconstructed by different scholars appear reasonably close in one way or another phonologically.
19. PC means Proto-Chinese. This rescontructed sound, taken from many comparative historical linguistic work, is believed to be how a cited word might have been sounded like. This work is done primarily by renown Sino-Tibetan specialists based on comparative historical phonological studies of related Tibetan linguistic families.
20. | is a separator, used to divide sections in the etymological enumeration in between the brackets.
21. |P, or ¶, signifies patterns of sound changes as they commonly happen with other words phonetically.
22. §, ss symbol stands for "sosánh", or "to compare" (cf.). A word is put forth for comparison may have similar semantical or phonological appearance as the foregoing cited words.
23. td. stands for "thídụ", or example. Examples of word usage are to demonstrate how a cited word is used in contextual fixed expressions, phrases, or sentences in modern Mandarin to render the meaning appearing in both modern Vietnamese and Chinese.
24. tl., abbreviation of "từláy", means "reduplicative word" in which either or both of the two morphemes or syllables of a word is a reduplicative syllable of the other. It is notable that either one or both morphemes may not still retain the original sound and its exact meaning to make up a new word, for example, 連綿辭 liánmiăncí (SV liênmiêntừ) giving rise to 'từlấpláy' ~> 'từláy'.
25. x. or "xem", means "see" in English. It asks readers to refer to certain words for more details on a cited word, of which the enumeration of etymology has been omitted since it is considered obvious or has been fully discussed elsewhere.

NOTE:

This project is still in an experimental form and an on-going process. There are three phases for this project and this work is in the first phase : raw data entry. The next two phases will be quoting sources and finally the editing stage. Contents are being added from time to time and will be updated and edited extensively. If you want to quote the material, please provide the http://Han-Viet.com in your annotations and check back again for more new updates.

In order to see the display of Vietnamese, Chinese, and IPA symbols correctly, you need to have the "Arial Unicode MS" installed in your computer. Also, Vietnamese words displayed here are written in the new Vietnamese2020 writing system as proposed in Vietnamese2020 Writing Reform Proposal.

HánNôm or Sinitic-Vietnamese is a term to denote those Vietnamese words that have been derived or originated from the Chinese language or Hánngữ. This study will present approximately 20,000 Sinitic-Vietnamese (HanNom) entries including words of monosyllabics, polysyllabics, and compounds, not counting those of Sino-Vietnamese (HanViet). Many of these HanNom words are amazingly interesting but unknown to the scholarly world so far. These Nôm words, including a large amount of basic vocabulary stock, have shown sharing the common roots with those of the Chinese language as seen clearly from the proofs presented in this project. Many Nôm words might have even shared the same roots from the Tibetan language family.

This will lead to a controversal question that shall the Vietnamese language be reconsidered to be reclassified into the Sino-Tibetan language family? If this research proves to be solid the answer is a firm “yes”. After all, it is a new discovery.

This project has been started more than 20 years ago and done with careful examination of linguistic historical records of the ancient and modern Chinese language. Till the present day those linguistic pecularities that both Vietnamese and Chinese share are linguistic traits that undoubtedly no other Mon Khmer languages in the Austroasiatic language family ever come close, either in the terms connoting culturally private domain (such as in English equivalents “shit, urinate, fuck”...) or with purely idiomatic expressions (“a table of hand” (bàntay), “head of knee” (đầugối), “sunshine” (trờinắng), not to mention basic words like leaf, fire, go, run, stone, soil, eye, nose, etc.  

In order to have a deeper understanding of how certain prossess of sound changes have taken place between Chinese and Vietnamese, please refer to What Makes Vietnamese So Chinese?.

Even though James Campbell in Vietnamese Dialects does not agree with my theory, he states it best that

"I originally included Vietnamese in this study/website because of the fact its phonological makeup is very similar to Chinese and, indeed, its tonal system matches the Chinese one. Originally I wrote at this site: "Vietnamese is neither a Chinese language nor related to Chinese (It is an Austroasiatic > Mon-Khmer language more closely related to Khmer/Cambodian). Besides having a very similar phonological system, and due to the heavy Chinese influence on the language, it also has a tone system that matches the Chinese one." However, after reading and conducting a bit more research, it appears that Vietnamese' affiliation with Việt-Mương, Mon-Khmer, and Austroasiatic, may in fact be a faulty case."

[...]

[Vietnamese] may not be considered a Sinitic language or one of the Chinese dialects, but the Kinh have a lot in common with the Chinese culture, and the language leaves little to doubt. I will not go into great detail about how this is claimed, as a great deal has been posted at some other websites (see below) and that is not the purpose of this site. However, one can see that Vietnamese shares many traits in common with Chinese: 60-70% Sinitic vocabulary, another 20% of vocabulary is substrata of proto-Sinitic vocabulary, much of the grammar and grammatical markers share similarities with Chinese, along with classifiers. One would find it very difficult to draw similar parallels between Chinese and other Mon-Khmer languages. It seems that after considering all of this, what is left that is Mon-Khmer is actually very little, and probably acquired over time through contact with bordering nations. For example, the numbers are of distinct Mon-Khmer origin, however, used in many compound words, Vietnamese uses instead Chinese roots (as is common in the other Sino-Xenic languages, Japanese and Korean)."

In any cases, languages, even those of ancient ones as reconstructed by historical linguists, are dynamic and in constant change, aren't they? So is this on-going project. New entries will be added on a regular basis and old items may be changed and modified constantly as the author sees fit.

Your comments are always welcome and please post them in Diễnđàn TiếngViệt. My work certainly will be incomplete without your contributions.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: The author would like to acknowledge that this Vietnamese Nôm etymological work benefits the most from the work of the reconstructions and transcriptions of the Tibetan languages, the Sino-Tibetan etimology,the Chinese dialects, as well as other on-line features of the language database http://starling.rinet.ru, created and managed by Sergei Starostin. Even though I certainly have my own interpretation of the ancient Chinese reconstruction, I found it greatly convenient and beneficial to utilize the result of S. Starostin’s on-line work because this on-line work facilitates the speed of completion my work of this colossal magnitude.

I do so with the belief that no matter how good is a reconstruction work of the ancient Chinese language a Chinese historical linguist has done, as demonstrated by a dozen works of several renowned linguists, the actual value of such works are not possibly completely correct and absolutely true, but they are merely representatives of the sound system of the Chinese language in a particular location and in a certain period of history. That is to say, for a certain Chinese character or word, there may have existed different versions with many ways of interpretations; however, in general, those reconstructions, in fact, only represent the most generally accepted presentation, all induced from historical records and linguistically factual proofs. One may understand this notion better if, for example, one relates to a Chinese word, wondering how it was pronounced or said 2000 years ago, then she or he goes into studying this word in depth and found out that many specialists in this historical field have already done so. As a result, one would accept one or more ways of interpretation, including that of her or his own research, and recognize that they are only of relatively approximate results.

Furthermore, taking a result completed by a renowned specialist in order build one’s own work (you do not need to re-invent the wheel, do you?) is always a better way to gain acceptance in a linguistic circle.

This is how I present my work here on-line for the world to see and this is exactly how I perceive the etymology of the Vietnamese words (the Nôms in particular, or the so-called thought-to-be purely Vietnamese words) is -- as opposed to the Sino-Vietnamese ones.

My last word for this research is that I hope it will:

1) provide a convenient tool as an electronic dictionary for modern Chinese learners with Vietnamese background who will see how close the two languages are, by tracing down the historically phonological relationship and the roots of words in each language,

2) set a new foundation for further studying of the etimology of the Vietnamese language,

3) establish proofs for reclassifying the Vietnamese language into the Sino-Tibetan language family (instead of the Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer one),

4) rekindle enthusiasm of interest in studying the Vietnamese language, and in return, more contributions will finally come in for an ultimate goal of mine: reforming the existing writing system of the Vietnamese language.

If you keep reading, out of hundreds of patterns of sound changes and linguistic rules, gradually you will definitely find a close relationship of phonology and etymology between Chinese and Vietnamese, that will certainly enlighten those who are really interested in this historical linguistic field.

CONVENTIONS:

() = raw data entries, as for place-holding reference only, incomplete and subject to extensive editing / đangtrong giaiđoạn ghinhập dữliệu, chưa hiệuđính hoànchỉnh và tínhchínhxác thiếusót
** = reconstructed proto sound / âm tháithượngcổ táitạo
* = reconstructed sound / âm cổ táitạo
~ = being cognate to / đồngnguyên với chữ nầy
+ = combined with / kếthợp với
- = combined with the same sound / kếthợp với âm tươngtự
^ = alternative to, also possible from / cũng cóthể do âm
{xxx} = being contaminated or conditioned by / do sựảnhhưởng của
@, ass. = associated with or assimilated to / liênđới hoặc đồnghoá với
§, ss = sosánh / compare, cf.
$, lit. = scholarly reading, literary / sáchvở (báchọc, thơvăn)
©, cổ = cổ / archaic, obsolete
|P, ¶ = pattern / phươngcách biếnthể
®, Râ, râ = rụngâm, rútngắn / sound dropped, short form
#, Nđ = hoánvị, nghịchđảo / reversed, metathesis
& = kếthợp thành từ mới / local invovation
% = parrallel development or also a possible source / cũng cóthể là từ đồngnguyên biếnâm
> = evolved into / biếnâm thành, pháttriển thành
< = derived or originated from / biếnâm từ, bắtnguồn từ
=>, <= = also have given rise to / còn biếnâm hay biếnthể thành
/xxx/= approximate sound / âmtrị gầnđúng
\ = on the condition that, in the context of / với điềukiện là, trong ngữcảnh
xxx = variables / chữ bấtkỳ
x. = see also / xem thêm
(xxx)= Sino-Vietnamese sound or further explanation/
xxx(xxx) = as in compound / một phần từ đaâmtiết
[ xxx ] = Etymology, etymon / từnguyên, từgốc
| = comments / bìnhgiải
= = same as / tươngtự như
cđ = reading / cáchđọc
cđl = also read as / còn đọc là
đh, đồnghoá = assimilation or association / đồnghoá hoặc liêntưởng
đn, Ðn = từđồngnguyên 同源辭 / as doublet, originated from the same source
hâ = hợpâm / merged or combined sound
HV, Hv = Sino-Vietnamese / HánViệt
HN, Hn = Sinitic-Vietnamese / HánNôm
HVh, HánViệthoá = Sino-Vietnamese association, contamination with, renovation or localization by using Han-Viet elements / đồnghoá với từ HánViệt cósẵn, HánViệthoá bằngcách xửdụng các yếutố Hán-Việt
HT, ht = hìnhthanh 形聲 / sound root or signifier
LZ, Late Z., Late Zhou = 周末時代 / Cuối đờiChâu
MC=Middle Chinese / TiếngHán Trungcổ
Nh, Vh = renovation or localization / Nômhoá hay Việthoá
Pt, PT = Phiênthiết 反切 fănqiè: Chinese spellings / phiênthiết
PH, PNH = Phươngngữ Hán / Chinese dialects
PST= Proto-Sino-Tibetan / TiếngHántạng Tháicổ
PC=Proto-Chinese / TiếngHán Tháicổ
OC=Old Chinese (Qín-Hàn era) / Hán Thượngcổ (đời Tần-Hán)
AC= Ancient Chinese / TiếngHán cậncổ
ST = Sino-Tibetan / ngữhệ Hán-Tạng
Tang = Tang period / ÐờiÐường
TB = Tibetan / Tạngngữ
td. = example, e.g. / thídụ
tl. = từláy / reduplicative word
Vh, Nh = renovation or localization / Việthoá hay Nômhoá
Viet. = Vietnamese usage only / Chỉ dùng trong tiếngViệt
Chin. = Chinese usage only / Chỉ dùng trong tiếngHán
qù, xián, zhì…= modern Pinyin, standard Beijing / phiênâm (pinyin) phổthông (Quanthoại) hiệnđại
123 = quoted page or item number / trang sách dẫn hay số mục
p123 = quoted page/trang sách dẫn
(xxx) = Sino-Vietnamese reading / âmđọc Hánviệt trong ngoặcđơn
xxx&(x)xx=combined sound/hợpâm
“Burmese:xxx Kachin: xxx. Dimasa: xxx Garo: xxx”: Languages of the Tibetan language family/các ngônngữ thuộc ngữhệ Tâytạng
"Wenzhou đọc sei31, Meixian sE 3, Xiamen se31” = as read by Chinese dialects with tonal indications / phươngngữ Hán hiệnđại, số chỉ thanhđiệu
Kargren, Zhu., Ben.: quoted authors/tácgiả tríchdẫn

PhươngngữHán / Chinese dialects :
Bk, Bắckinh = Beijing (Peking) 北京話 dialectal parculiarity / âm phươngngữ Bắckinh
Dc, Dươngchâu = Yángzhōu dialect 揚州話 (Yángzhōu) / Dươngchâu
Hak, Hẹ = Hakka 客家話 Kèjiā (Méixiàn) / tiếngHẹ
Hai. , Hảinam = Hainanese 海南話 dialect / Hảinam, tiếngHảinam, thuộc đạiphươngngữ Mânnam
Hk, Hánkhẩu = Hànkǒu 漢口話 dialect / tiếngHánkhẩu
Hm, Hạmôn = Xiàmén 廈門話 (Amoy) dialect / phươngngữ Hạmôn (thuộc đạiphươngngữ Mânnam)
Mânnam = Mǐnnán 閩南方言 đạiphươngngữ Mânnam (Phúckiến, Hảinam, Hạmôn, Ðàiloan...) / Minnan dialects
Ngô = Wǔfāngyán 吳方言 Wu dialects / đạiphươngngữ Ngô (Th, Ôc, Tc...)
Nx, Namxương = Nánchāng 南昌話 dialect / phươngngữ Namxương
Ôc, Ônchâu = Wēnzhōu 溫州話 dialect / phươngngữ Ônchâu, thuộc đạiphươngngữ Ngô 吳方言
Pk, Phúckiến = Fùjiàn 福建話 (Fùzhōu 福州) dialect / phươngngữ Phúckiến, Phướckiến (Phúcchâu), thuộc đạiphươngngữ Mânnam
QÐ, Qđ = Cantonese 廣州話 / TiếngQuảngđông 廣東話
QT, Qt, Quanthoại = Mandarin 國語 / Quanthoại 官話 hoặc tiếngphổthông (putonghua 普通話) hiệnđại
Sp, Songphong = Shuāngfēng 雙峯話 dialect / phươngngữ Songphong
Ta, Tâyan = Xī'ān 西安話 dialect / phươngngữ Tâyan (Trườngan 長安 cũ)
Tc, Tôchâu = Sūzhōu 蘇州話 / phươngngữ Tôchâu, thuộc đạiphươngngữ Ngô 吳方言
Th, Thượnghải = Shànghăi 上海話(Shanghainese) / tiếngThượnghải, phươngngữ Thượnghải, thuộc đạiphươngngữ Ngô 吳方言
Thn, Tháinguyên = Tàiyuán 太原 / phươngngữ Tháinguyên
Tn, Tếnam = Jínán 濟南話 dialect / phươngngữ Tếnam
TrC, Triềuchâu, Chaozhou (Chiewchow) = a sub-dialect of Fukienese, also known as Tchiewchou (tiếngTriều, tiếngTiều 朝州話, thuộc đạiphươngngữ Mânnam)
Ts, Trườngsa = Trườngsa 長沙話 dialect / phươngngữ Trườngsa
Tx, Tứxuyên = Sīchuān 四川話 dialect (Chéngdū 成都話 Thànhđô / phươngngữ Tứxuyên 四川話, tiếng Quanthoại vùng Tâynam)

KEYS TO PRONUNCIATION / CÁCHPHIÊNÂM:

For the convenience of online presentation, a number of IPA symbols and convention have been replaced as follows:
1) Pinyin will be used to indicate Mandarin pronunciation of today's sounds of standard China's Putonghua; for the exact pronunciation of Pinyin, refer to Pinyin guide in a modern Chinese dictionary such as "Hànyǔ Cídiăn" (available also on the internet),
2) Vietnamese tonal diacritics are also utilized in combination with IPA transcriptions for transcribing Vietnamese sounds,
3) if deemed necessary, tonal indications in OC and MC will be clearly indicated.

REFERENCE ABREVIATIONS:

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES

Back to top

Copyrights ©2003-2023. All rights reserved.

Disclaimers: The accuracy of this website is unwarranted and you agree that you will use it at your own risk. We cannot guarantee all those words translated here are accurate, so please do not use the medical or legal terms defined here for diagnosis of diseases or legal advice. As always your comments and corrections are welcome.