nải

See also: Appendix:Variations of "nai"

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *c-naːs < *c-rn-aːs (an infixed form of *caːs (“to comb”), whence chải).

For the semantic relationship, compare Khmer សិត (sət, “to comb”) and ស្និត (snət, “classifier for hands of bananas”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [naːj˧˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [naːj˧˨]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [naːj˨˩˦]

Noun

nải • (㭁, 乃, 奈)

1. (of bananas) a hand