cầu sung vừa đủ xài

Vietnamese

Etymology

Based on the words for five types of fruits: mãng cầu (“sugar apple”), sung (“fig”), dừa (“coconut”), đu đủ (“papaya”), xoài (“mango”)), with phono-semantic matching with sung (充) (as in sung túc) and xài (“to use, to spend”); roughly "having enough wealth for a comfortable life".

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kəw˨˩ sʊwŋ͡m˧˧ vɨə˨˩ ʔɗu˧˩ saːj˨˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kəw˦˩ ʂʊwŋ͡m˧˧ vɨə˦˩ ʔɗʊw˧˨ saːj˦˩] ~ [kəw˦˩ sʊwŋ͡m˧˧ vɨə˦˩ ʔɗʊw˧˨ saːj˦˩]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [kəw˨˩ ʂʊwŋ͡m˧˧ vɨə˨˩ ʔɗʊw˨˩˦ saːj˨˩] ~ [kəw˨˩ sʊwŋ͡m˧˧ jɨə˨˩ ʔɗʊw˨˩˦ saːj˨˩]

Phrase

cầu sung vừa đủ xài

1. (Southern Vietnam, occult) to offer certain fruits during Tết as a way to wish for fortune

See also

• ngũ quả