dữ dằn

Vietnamese

Etymology

Either:

• Reduplication of dữ, or
• dữ +‎ dằn, the latter being possibly a fossil and derived from a non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 寅 (“3rd Earth Branch; tiger in Chinese zodiac”, SV: dần); if true, dữ dằn would have originally meant "fierce, ferocious as a tiger".

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [zɨ˦ˀ˥ zan˨˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [jɨ˧˨ jaŋ˦˩]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [jɨ˨˩˦ jaŋ˨˩]

Adjective

dữ dằn

1. fierce, ferocious