bóng

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bóng

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From Proto-Vietic *pɔːŋʔ (“bladder”).

(classifier quả, trái) bóng • (俸, 𫕰, 䏾)

1. a ball

• banh

From Proto-Vietic *pɔːŋʔ (“shadow”); cognate with Tho pɒːŋ³, Chut pɔːŋ³, and Muong pỏng.

(classifier cái) bóng • (俸, 䏾, 𩃳, 𫕰, 𩄴)

1. shadow, shade

   dưới bóng cây ― in the shade of the tree

2. reflection

   bóng cây trên mặt nước ― tree reflection on the water

bóng • (𣈖, 俸)

1. shiny

Unknown. Cadière (1915) derives sense "pythoness, seeress, sorceress" from "shade, shadow",^[1] yet this could be a folk etymology.

bóng • (𡞗)

1. (obsolete) female occultist, shamaness

   bà bóng ― the shamaness

   • 19th century, Emperor Tự Đức, Tự Đức thánh chế tự học giải nghĩa ca (嗣德聖製字學解義歌 "Emperor Tự Đức's sagely study of character creation and interpretation song"), vol. V, 16b:

     巫媒𡞗求神

     “Vu”: mụ bóng cầu thần.

     巫 (“wu”): the shamaness praying to the divinities

Possibly from the etymology above, through the semantic development path of "female occultist, shamaness > weirdo > homosexual". See also the adjectival sense of đồng bóng.

For a parallel, compare English queer.

bóng

1. (slang, offensive) homosexual