Hóc Môn

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Vietnamese Hốc Môn, hốc (“creephole”) +‎ môn (“taro”), literally "taro creephole" to refer to the wilderness of this area in the early 19th century.

hóc is a regional development from hốc through the vowel shift (-ok > -ɔk) when a vowel is preceded by a velar consonant (characteristic of Southern Vietnamese). Compare đọc and độc (“讀”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [hawk͡p̚˧˦ mon˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [hawk͡p̚˦˧˥ moŋ˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [hawk͡p̚˦˥ moŋ˧˧]

Proper noun

Hóc Môn

1. Hóc Môn (a district of Ho Chi Minh City)