đoan trang

Vietnamese

Etymology

    Sino-Vietnamese word from 端莊.

    Pronunciation

    • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ʔɗwaːn˧˧ t͡ɕaːŋ˧˧]
    • (Huế) IPA(key): [ʔɗwaːŋ˧˧ ʈaːŋ˧˧]
    • (Saigon) IPA(key): [ʔɗwaːŋ˧˧ ʈaːŋ˧˧]

    Adjective

    đoan trang

    1. (formal or literary, only women) dignified and decorous
      Synonym: thuỳ mị
      • 1820, Nguyễn Du (阮攸), Đoạn trường tân thanh (Truyện Kiều)[1], published 1866, lines 21–22:
        (Hoa)(cười)(ngọc)(thốt)(đoan)(trang)
        𩄲(Mây)(thua)(nước)𩯀(tóc)(tuyết)(nhường)(màu)(da)
        Jades tingled in her voice; flowers bloomed from her smile.
        Her speech: educated, chaste and refined.
        Clouds yielded to her hair’s lustrous shine and flow.
        Snow ceded to the silky whiteness of her skin’s glow.