nhạt

See also: Appendix:Variations of "nhat"

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

• (Northern Vietnam) nhợt
• (Central Vietnam, Southern Vietnam) lạt
• (Central Vietnam, Southern Vietnam) lợt

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *m-laːc (“tasteless”). See also lạt and nhợt.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ɲaːt̚˧˨ʔ]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ɲaːk̚˨˩ʔ]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ɲaːk̚˨˩˨]
• Homophone: nhạc

Adjective

nhạt • (𤁕, 溂)

1. (of flavor) tasteless or bland
2. (of something that is supposed to be entertaining) bland; lame; weak; feeble

   câu đùa nhạt nhẽo/nhạt thếch ― an unfunny joke

   câu đùa nhạt như nước ốc ― an unfunny joke (literally, “a joke as bland as the liquid coming out of boiled/steamed snails”)

3. (of color) light; pale

   xanh nhạt ― light grue

Usage notes

• In Northern Vietnamese, nhạt is used for all three senses. In Central and Southern Vietnamese, the variant lạt is only used to refer to the lack of flavor, while nhạt is for "bland, boring, lame". For "light, pale (of color)", Central and Southern Vietnamese use nhạt and lợt, Northern Vietnamese uses nhạt and nhợt.

	Flavor	Jokes, stories, etc.	Color
Northern	nhạt	nhạt	nhạt, nhợt
Central-Southern	lạt	nhạt	nhạt, lợt

See also

Derived terms

• lạnh nhạt
• nhạt nhẽo (từ láy)
• nhạt thếch
• nhạt toẹt
• nhợt nhạt (“pale”)
• phai nhạt
• tẻ nhạt