quần què

Vietnamese

Etymology

quần (“pants”) +‎ què (“crippled”).

Some consider this as a Southern corruption of quần hoè, a kind of pants worn in pre-modern times by women during menstruation, making use of flowers of the Chinese scholar tree to limit bleeding.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kwən˨˩ kwɛ˨˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kwəŋ˦˩ kwɛ˦˩]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [wəŋ˨˩ wɛ˨˩]

Noun

quần què

1. (literally) broken pants, especially pants with one (or both) leg torn off
2. (figurative, chiefly Southern Vietnam, low colloquial, slang) bullshit; rubbish; your ass

   Đang làm cái quần què gì vậy?

   What the fuck are you doing?