lên hương

Vietnamese

Etymology

lên +‎ hương. hương (鄉) is an obsolete administrative unit and can be translated as "township".

The phrase describes the action of someone from the countryside coming to an urban area.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [len˧˧ hɨəŋ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [len˧˧ hɨəŋ˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ləːn˧˧ hɨəŋ˧˧]

Verb

lên hương

1. to experience a sudden jump upward in terms of materialistic living standard

   Nhà nó trúng số độc đắc, giờ cứ gọi là lên hương.

   They hit jackpot with the lottery draws, now they're in a different league, man.