chẳng
Vietnamese edit
Etymology edit
Originally the chief negator in earlier stages of Vietnamese; this usage as the neutral negator was replaced by không, but chẳng and other negators are still widely used in many situations. Cognate with Muong chăng, Nguôn chẳng. Compare Thai ช่าง (châang), Lao ຊ່າງ (sāng, “to not care”). See also chăng and chả.
Pronunciation edit
Adverb edit
- not at all
- Chẳng biết. ― No idea.
- even if not
- Chẳng chua, nhưng vẫn có thể là chanh.
- Even if it isn’t sour, it could still be a lemon.
- if not
- there is not
Synonyms edit
See also edit
Derived terms
References edit
- "chẳng" in Hồ Ngọc Đức, Free Vietnamese Dictionary Project (details)
- Lê Sơn Thanh, "Nom-Viet.dat", WinVNKey (details)