chồng

See also: chong, chóng, chòng, chông, chōng, and chǒng

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕəwŋ͡m˨˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕəwŋ͡m˦˩]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [cəwŋ͡m˨˩]

• Audio (Saigon):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Proto-Vietic *p-ʄoːŋ ~ *ɟoːŋ. Cognate with Mlabri ɟioŋ ("father"), Khmu joŋ ("man").

This word originally just meant "man, male", as with North Central gấy/cấy (“wife”), originally just meant "woman, female".

Attested in Annan Jishi (安南即事, 13th century) as 重 (MC drjowng) (modern SV: trùng). Attested as Northern Middle Vietnamese chào᷃ in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651), a dictionary chiefly based on the Northern dialects. The modern Central forms descended from unattested Middle Vietnamese dialects, which further derived from unattested non-Northern Old Vietnamese dialects.

Alternative forms

• (North Central Vietnam) nhôông, nhông
• (North Central Vietnam) dôông, dông
• (Huế) dôn (same as dông with ‹-ng› vs. ‹-n› merger)
• (texting, abbreviation) ck

Noun

chồng • (重, 𫯰, 𫯳)

1. husband

   lấy chồng ― (of a woman) to get married

   bố/mẹ chồng ― husband's father/mother

Usage notes

• In vợ chồng (“wife and husband”), cô chú (“paternal aunt and her husband”), cô cậu (“you girls and boys”), dì dượng (“maternal aunt and her husband; stepmother and stepfather”), the words for females always come first. In most other phrases, the words for males usually come first, except in certain poetic contexts (e.g. mẹ cha (“mum and dad”) as opposed to the usual cha mẹ (“dad and mum”)).

See also

• nhà chồng
• vợ chồng

Further reading

• chunom.org

Etymology 2

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 重 (SV: trùng).

Verb

chồng • (𠽚, 𥔧, 𨤯)

1. to stack up

Derived terms

• chồng chất
• chồng chéo
• xếp chồng

Noun

chồng

1. a stack