bóng

See also: Appendix:Variations of "bong"

Vietnamese

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bóng

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Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɓawŋ͡m˧˦]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɓawŋ͡m˦˧˥] ~ [ʔɓɔŋ˦˧˥]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɓawŋ͡m˦˥]
Audio (Hà Nội): (file)
Audio (Saigon): (file)

Etymology 1

From Proto-Vietic *pɔːŋʔ (“bladder”).

Noun

(classifier quả, trái) bóng • (俸, 𫕰, 䏾)

a ball

Etymology 2

From Proto-Vietic *pɔːŋʔ (“shadow”); cognate with Tho [Cuối Chăm] pɒːŋ³, Chut [Rục] pɔːŋ³, and Muong pỏng.

Noun

(classifier cái) bóng • (俸, 䏾, 𩃳, 𫕰, 𩄴)

shadow, shade
dưới bóng cây ― in the shade of the tree
reflection
bóng cây trên mặt nước ― tree reflection on the water

Adjective

bóng • (𣈖, 俸)

shiny

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

(classifier con, bà, mụ) bóng • (𡞗)

(obsolete) female occultist, shamaness
- 19th century, Emperor Tự Đức, Tự Đức thánh chế tự học giải nghĩa ca (嗣德聖製字學解義歌 "Emperor Tự Đức's sagely study of character creation and interpretation song"), vol. V, 16b
  巫媒𡞗求神
  “Vu”: mụ bóng cầu thần.
  巫 (“wu”): the shamaness praying to the divinities

Derived terms

Etymology 4

Possibly from the etymology above, through the semantic development path of "female occultist, shamaness > weirdo > homosexual". See also the adjectival sense of đồng bóng.

For a parallel, compare English queer.

Adjective

bóng

(slang, offensive) homosexual