vẹn

Vietnamese

Etymology

    Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 完 (“complete”, SV: hoàn).

    Its likely ancestor, 完 (LHC *ɣuɑn) (in Schuessler's 2009 reconstruction), would have regularly yielded **vèn; its attested nặng-tone resulted from either borrowing from a regional Chinese dialect (see tạnh), or indirect borrowing (see tiếng), or an irregular pre-Middle Chinese sound change (see nhặng and mựa).

    Pronunciation

    • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [vɛn˧˨ʔ]
    • (Huế) IPA(key): [vɛŋ˨˩ʔ]
    • (Saigon) IPA(key): [vɛŋ˨˩˨] ~ [jɛŋ˨˩˨]

    Verb

    vẹn • (院, 援, 愋)

    1. (literary) to keep (one's promise); to be true to
    2. to be complete; to be intact; to be whole

    Derived terms

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