vẹn

Vietnamese

Etymology

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 完 (“complete”, SV: hoàn).

Its ancestor, either 完 (OC *[ɢ]ˤo[n]) (B-S) or 完 (LHC *ɣuɑn) (Schuessler, 2009), would have regularly yielded **vèn; its attested nặng-tone resulted from either an irregular sound change, borrowing from a regional Chinese dialect (see tạnh), or indirect borrowing (see tiếng).

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [vɛn˧˨ʔ]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [vɛŋ˨˩ʔ]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [vɛŋ˨˩˨] ~ [jɛŋ˨˩˨]

Verb

vẹn • (院, 援, 愋)

(literary) to keep (one's promise); to be true to
to be complete; to be intact; to be whole

Derived terms