bù nhìn

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

  • bồ nhìn
  • mồ dìn
  • mù dìn

Etymology

From earlier mù nhìn, attested in Chỉ nam ngọc âm giải nghĩa (指南玉音解義) as 戊忍 (MC muwH nyinX) (modern SV: mậu nhẫn).

Vũ Đức Nghiệu (2019) relates the prefixal element bù to bồ ~ mồ - also found in in bồ nâu (“dioscorea cirrhosa, dyeing yam”), bồ quân (“flacourtia jangomas, Indian coffee plum”), bồ hóng (“soot”), bồ hòn (“western soapberry (Sapindus saponaria) ← Chinese soapberry (Sapindus mukorossi)”), etc. Additionally, he derives that prefixal element from an etymon with initial *ɓ-.

Pronunciation

  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ʔɓu˨˩ ɲin˨˩]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [ʔɓʊw˦˩ ɲin˦˩]
  • (Saigon) IPA(key): [ʔɓʊw˨˩ ɲɨn˨˩]

Noun

(classifier con) bù nhìn

  1. scarecrow
    Synonym: bẹo chim
  2. (figuratively, politics) puppet
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