kim chỉ nam

Vietnamese

Etymology

kim (“needle”) +‎ chỉ nam (“guide”), calque of Chinese 指南針／指南针 (chỉ nam châm, “compass”, literally “southward needle”). In Chinese philosophy, south is a favorable "yang" direction, as opposed to north which is a "yin" direction. Compare 指南 (chỉ nam, “to point south”), 南北 (nam bắc, “south and north”) and 敗北／败北 (bại bắc, “defeat”, literally “to retreat to the north”), and certain ways to position things in fengshui to conform to the south-first-north-second orientation. Compare the meanings of the Latin auto-antonym sinister (“left”) which is either "auspicious" if one is facing south and east is to their left per Roman tradition, or "inauspicious" if one is facing north and west is to their left per Greek tradition.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kim˧˧ t͡ɕi˧˩ naːm˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kim˧˧ t͡ɕɪj˧˨ naːm˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [kim˧˧ cɪj˨˩˦ naːm˧˧]

Noun

kim chỉ nam

1. (literal) the magnetic needle of a compass
2. (figurative) a compass

   Synonym: la bàn

3. (formal, figurative) a guide; touchstone; lodestar; benchmark

   Chủ nghĩa Mác-Lê-nin, tư tưởng Hồ Chí Minh là kim chỉ nam của Đảng.

   Marxism-Leninism, coupled with Ho Chi Minh thought, is the touchstone of the Party.

Related terms

• nam châm (“magnet”)