bằng

See also: bang, bàng, bâng, bāng, băng, bảng, bǎng, and bång

Tày

Etymology

From Vietnamese bằng. Doublet of pằng.

Pronunciation

(Thạch An – Tràng Định) IPA^(key): [ɓaŋ˧˨]
(Trùng Khánh) IPA^(key): [ɓaŋ˩]

Noun

bằng

diploma
chỉa bằng ― diploma (paper)

đảy bằng ― to get a diploma

References

Léopold Michel Cadière (1910) Dictionnaire Tày-Annamite-Français [Tày-Vietnamese-French Dictionary]‎^[1] (in French), Hanoi: Impressions d'Extrême-Orient

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɓaŋ˨˩]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɓaŋ˦˩]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɓaŋ˨˩]
Audio (Hà Nội): (file)

Etymology 1

Sino-Vietnamese word from 平 (“level; even”); originally the Northern reading. Its distribution likely already extended beyond Northern Vietnam by the time Vietnamese started to be written down in the Latin script. See also bình, the current chief form used in compounds and the main form in placenames in Southern Vietnam.

The expected reading of the Northern form would be *bềnh, which is unattested. Compare pairs such as bệnh vs. bịnh, nghênh vs. nghinh, lệnh vs. lịnh.

It is sometimes claimed that this form is due to the taboo of the title 北平王 (Bắc Bình/Bằng vương) of Quang Trung, but this is demonstrably false as bàng (as well as bàng an, bàng ien) is attested in Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651), a dictionary based chiefly on the dialects of Northern Vietnam.

Adjective

bằng

(of a surface) flat
(linguistics, poetry, of a tone) being a ngang or huyền tone
Antonym: trắc
(poetry, of a rhyme) carrying a bằng tone
(mathematics) equal to
một cộng một bằng hai ― one plus one equal to two
(geometry) congruent to
góc A và góc B bằng nhau ― angle A and angle B are congruent (literally, “angle A and angle B are equal to each other”)

góc A bằng góc B ― angle A is congruent to angle B

Etymology 2

Sino-Vietnamese word from 憑 (“rely on; on the basis of; by the means of; certificate; diploma”).

Noun

bằng

diploma; certificate; license; degree

Synonyms

bằng cấp

Derived terms

bằng cấp (“diploma”)
bằng lái xe (“driver’s license”)

Preposition

bằng

by; by means of
bằng đường bộ ― by land

bằng ô tô ― by car

bằng tiếng Việt ― in Vietnamese
made of
bức tường bằng gạch ― a wall of bricks; a brick wall

Verb

bằng

(with vào) to count (on), to depend (on)
- 2005, chapter 1, in Cao Tự Thanh, transl., Anh hùng xạ điêu, Văn học, translation of 射雕英雄传 by Jīn Yōng (Kim Dung):
  - Lúc bấy giờ mà bằng vào khí khái anh hùng, thân thủ hào kiệt của hai vị, tìm tới Lâm An bắt thằng gian thần ấy, ba người bọn ta ăn thịt uống máu y thì không phải ngồi đây ăn đậu hủ uống rượu lạnh!
  "If at the time I could've counted on the heroic indomitability and the great abilities of the two of you to go to Lín'ān and capture that treacherous courtier, the three of us would now be eating his flesh and drinking his blood rather than sitting here eating tofu and drinking cold rice wine!"

Etymology 3

Sino-Vietnamese word from 鵬. See also đại bàng (“eagle”).

Noun

(classifier con) bằng

(rare, Chinese mythology) (chim ~) Peng, a giant mythical bird
- Zhuangzi, ch. 1. English translation by James Legge; Vietnamese translation by Nguyễn Hiến Lê
  Biển Bắc có con cá gọi là cá côn, mình dài không biết mấy ngàn dặm. Nó biến thành con chim gọi là chim bằng, lưng rộng không biết mấy ngàn dặm.
  In the Northern Ocean there is a fish, the name of which is Kun - I do not know how many li in size. It changes into a bird with the name of Peng, the back of which is (also) - I do not know how many li in extent.