ngoại hạng

Vietnamese

Etymology

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “It would be helpful if an early attestion in sports contexts can be provided. There's barely anything useful on the Internet, and the best way is to look for some old sports newspapers but there's probably not much digitally archived.”

Sino-Vietnamese word from 外 (“outside”) and 項 (“rank”).

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ŋwaːj˧˨ʔ haːŋ˧˨ʔ]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ŋwaːj˨˩ʔ haːŋ˨˩ʔ]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ŋwaːj˨˩˨ haːŋ˨˩˨]

Noun

ngoại hạng

(chiefly sports, otherwise rare) exceptional; top-level
Ngoại hạng Anh ― the English Premier League