lên

See also: Appendix:Variations of "len"

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *leːɲ, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *luŋ ~ *luəŋ ~ *ləŋ (“above, on”) (reconstruction in Shorto, 2006); related to trên. Cognate with Muong liênh, Chut [Rục] liːŋ¹, Samre liɲ ("to go up; on"), Khmer ឡើង (laəng), Semelai leŋ ("upwards, upstream"), Juang aliŋ-ta ("above, from above, on; up, upon"), Korku liɲ ("up, above").

Note that the reconstruction by Ferlus (2007) is inaccurate at Proto-Vietic level. The fronting of final *-ŋ to *-ɲ after front vowels only occured at Common Viet-Muong stage, not Proto-Vietic proper, hence non-Viet-Muong languages (like Rục) keep final *-ŋ intact. The reconstruction *leːɲ is thus accurate for the Common Viet-Muong stage, but the Proto-Vietic form can be mended to *leːŋ instead.

For some other examples of Common Viet-Muong fronting of *-ŋ after front vowels, compare Viet. đến vs. Cuối Chăm teːŋ³, Viet. cù lần vs. Cuối Chăm kuː¹ liŋ¹, Viet. chân vs. Rục ciːŋ².

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [len˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [len˧˧]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ləːn˧˧]
Audio (Hà Nội): (file)
Audio (Saigon): (file)

Verb

lên • (蓮, 連, 𨑗, 𨕭, 𨖲, 𫧧, 𬨠, 𬨺)

to go up, come up, rise
to be or reach a certain age
to get on (a vehicle)
thẻ lên máy bay ― boarding pass

lên xe ― to get on/in the car
to go to (a more developed area)
lên thành phố ― to go to the city
(of a machine) to be activated

Derived terms

Adverb

lên • (蓮, 連, 𨑗, 𨕭, 𨖲, 𫧧, 𬨠, 𬨺)

upwards

Usage notes

Lên is used after an adjective to indicate an upward development of a character or state of a person or thing. The adjective needs not to have positive connotation, although they often do. Similar usage is seen with đi, usually used with adjectives with more neutral or negative connotation.

Dạo này trông mập lên hử? ― It seems you have been gaining weight lately, huh?

Nhanh lên! Trễ bây giờ. ― Quick! We might be late.