nét ngài

Vietnamese

Etymology

See mắt phượng mày ngài, mắt phụng mày ngài.

In Truyện Kiều, whose writer was born in North Central Vietnam, this is also a pun on ngài (“human; body”) and the line means both "having thick silkworm-shaped eyebrows" and "having a well-endowed body".

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [nɛt̚˧˦ ŋaːj˨˩]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [nɛt̚˦˧˥ ŋaːj˦˩]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [nɛk̚˦˥ ŋaːj˨˩]

Noun

nét ngài • (󰞺𧍋)

silkworm-shaped eyebrows; (figurative) perfectly shaped eyebrows
- 1820, Nguyễn Du (阮攸), Đoạn trường tân thanh (Truyện Kiều)‎^[1], published 1866, lines 19–20:
  雲(Vân)󰏙(xem)莊(trang)重(trọng)恪(khác)潙(vời)
  囷(Khuôn)𦝄(trăng)苔(đầy)惮(đặn)󰞺(nét)𧍋(ngài)𦬑(nở)囊(nang)
  Vân’s beauty was very remarkable.
  Her eyebrows – full crescent arcs, her moonlit face – oval.