lê dương

Vietnamese

Etymology

Borrowed from French légion, with phono-semantic matching from dương (洋, “foreign”).

Compare also the case of âm li (“amplifier”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [le˧˧ zɨəŋ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [lej˧˧ jɨəŋ˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [lej˧˧ jɨəŋ˧˧]

Noun

lê dương

1. (military) a legion

   Lê dương La Mã ― Roman Legion

2. (specifically, historical) the French foreign legion