tráng miệng

Vietnamese

FWOTD – 5 May 2018

Tráng miệng.

Etymology

From tráng (“to rinse”) +‎ miệng (“mouth”), in the sense of "cleansing your palate of savor with juicy fruit or sweet dessert".

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕaːŋ˧˦ miəŋ˧˨ʔ]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʈaːŋ˦˧˥ miəŋ˨˩ʔ]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʈaːŋ˦˥ miəŋ˨˩˨]

Verb

tráng miệng

1. to have some fruit or dessert after the main meal

   ăn nho tráng miệng ― to have some grapes after the main meal

   món/đồ tráng miệng ― fruit or dessert for after the main meal

   Có gì tráng miệng không ?
   Có chuối.

   Got some after-meal food?
   I got bananas.

   • 2018 January 17, “Trà bạch đậu khấu thơm ngon với những lợi ích 'vàng' cho sức khỏe”, in Tiền Phong Online‎^[1]:

     Bạch đậu khấu thường được sử dụng làm nguyên liệu nấu ăn hoặc làm món tráng miệng nhờ hương vị tuyệt vời.

     Cardamom is often used as an ingredient in cooking (main meals) or desserts owing to its excellent flavour.

Usage notes

• Despite the dedicated Vietnamese Wikipedia article and bilingual dictionaries, tráng miệng is first and foremost about fruit, not dessert, given how dessert was introduced much later from the West. As a matter of fact, fruit is more accessible for its price than dessert, and is even given out free of charge at certain dining establishments.