tháng giêng

Vietnamese

Etymology

tháng (“month”) + non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 正 (“principal (month)”, SV: chinh), calque of Chinese 正月 (chinh nguyệt).

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [tʰaːŋ˧˦ ziəŋ˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [tʰaːŋ˦˧˥ jiəŋ˧˧]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [tʰaːŋ˦˥ jiəŋ˧˧]

Noun

tháng giêng • (躺/𣎃 + 正/征/𦙫/𣦓/𥢆)

the first lunar month of a year
(by extension, literary or on certain printed calendars) January

Usage notes

This term properly refers to the lunar month. Some calendar producers conflate it with the Gregorian solar month, despite the oft-imperfect overlap between the two types of month.

Synonyms

tháng một; tháng 1