khoai

Borrowed from a Khmuic language, compare Mal kʰwaːj, or directly descended from Proto-Mon-Khmer *kwaaj (“yam”). The first scenario is more likely, but it is also possible that this now mainstream Vietnamese word is an internal borrowing, originated from the North Central region (where secondary aspiration frequently occurs) and replaced the Northern form without aspiration: it was spelt as 䓙 (phonetic 乖 (MC kweaj), SV reading quai) in a poem by Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm, a native of Northern Vietnam, while later works use various characters that clearly show aspiration.^[1]

Cognate with Mon ကွဲာ (kwai).

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [xwaːj˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kʰwaːj˧˧] ~ [xwaːj˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [kʰwaːj˧˧] ~ [xwaːj˧˧]

(classifier củ) khoai • (芌, 𧃷, 䓙, 𬞲)

1. potato
2. sweet potato

• (sweet potato): khoai lang