bánh

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See also: banh, Bành, and Banh

Vietnamese

FWOTD – 3 January 2014
 bánh on Wikipedia
 Bánh (thực phẩm) on Vietnamese Wikipedia

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 餅 (“flour-based food”, SV: bính). Cognate with Muong pẻng, Thai แป้ง (bpɛ̂ɛng), Lao ແປ້ງ (pǣng).

A folk etymology claims that bánh is a corruption of French pain. However, this is clearly false as the word is attested in early Vietnamese texts such as Cư trần lạc đạo phú (居塵樂道賦, 13th century) and Phật thuyết đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh (佛說大報父母恩重經, 12th century), which were published long before French contact with Vietnam.

Noun

(classifier chiếc, tấm, ổ) bánh • (𩛄, 餅)

  1. a broad, vaguely defined term, mostly used by collocation or intuition, for foods that come in a specific shape or solid (a flat piece, a block, a ball, a loaf, etc.) and that are often made from grain or legume flour or plain rice, by size often larger than and contrasted with what is known as kẹo (“candy”)
    bánh kẹo ― sweets (literally, “bánh and candy”)
    Hôm nay ăn bánh thay cơm.
    Today let's eat dumplings/pastries/bread instead of rice.
    bà hàng bán bánh ― the lady selling dumplings/pastries
    bánh bao ― baozi
    nhân bánh ― dumpling/pastry filling
    bánh sinh nhật ― birthday cake
    bánh mì Pháp ― French bread (literally, "French wheat cake")
    bánh mì kẹp kem ― ice cream in Vietnamese baguette (literally, "ice cream sandwich")
  2. (cooking) certain types of noodles in their raw forms
    bánh phở ― pho noodle(s)
  3. a cake (a block of any of various dense materials)
    bánh xà phòng (bánh xà bông) ― a cake of soap
Usage notes
  • Not all noodles are called bánh: depending on the composition and production method, some noodles are considered bún, mì, miến, etc.
  • Not all cakes are called bánh: those made of meat are considered chả (“patty”), e.g. chả cá (“fishcake”), chả lụa (“pork roll”), and chả trứng (“egg roll”).
  • Bánh is used with various classifiers, depending on the general shape of the item. A loaf of bánh is classified as chiếc in northern Vietnam but ổ in southern Vietnam. Tấm is used for wafers and the like.
  • Bánh is usually used as a generic word to refer to certain solid foods shaped round, flat, or puffy (e.g.: Cái loại bánh đó gọi là gì nhỉ? À, pi-da.)
Derived terms
sweet, salty, or savory food made from flour or pressed grains
block of any of various dense materials
Descendants
  • Khmer: បាញ់ (bañ)

Etymology 2

Cognate with Muong bẻnh.

Noun

(classifier chiếc) bánh • (𨋣, 軿, 屏)

  1. a wheel
    xe bốn bánh ― four-wheeled vehicle
Derived terms
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Romanization

bánh

  1. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 鍠 (“weapon/trident/sound of drums/bells”)
  2. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 碰/掽 (“collide/meet/offend”)
  3. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 庳 (“low/short”)
  4. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 䗒 (“clam”)
  5. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 蟔 (“caterpillar”)
  6. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 蓻
  7. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 榵

References

  • "bánh" in Hồ Ngọc Đức, Free Vietnamese Dictionary Project (details)
  • Hà Quang Phùng (2012 September 6) “Tìm hiểu về ngữ pháp tiếng Mường (Thim hiếu wuê ngử pháp thiểng Mường) [Understanding Muong grammar]”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎ (FlashPaper; overall work in Vietnamese and Muong), Thanh Sơn–Phú Thọ Province Continuing Education Center, archived from the original on 17 December 2013
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