bèo
Vietnamese edit
Etymology edit
Norman & Mei (1976) proposes a native Austroasiatic origin and compares it to Mon ဗေဝ် (“to ride low in the water”) (< Proto-Mon-Khmer *ber (“to float”)); they also consider Chinese 薸 (OC *bew) to be a loanword from Austroasiatic.
However, Liu (1999) proposes a possible relation of 薸 (OC *bew) to 漂 (OC *pʰew, “to float; to drift”), and Sagart (2008) counts 薸 (OC *bew) among "either East Asian areal words if not Chinese words in disguise"; so the loan direction might have been in reverse, i.e. from Old Chinese.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
(classifier cây, lá, miếng) bèo
Derived terms edit
Derived terms
Adjective edit
bèo
See also edit
Derived terms