Hàn Xẻng

Vietnamese

Etymology

hàn (“to weld”) +‎ xẻng (“shovel”), a jocular name for Hàn Quốc, based on cuốc (“hoe”), which is homophonous with quốc (“nation, country”) in Northern dialects, and its usual semantic field companion xẻng (“shovel”). See also cuốc xẻng (“hoe and shovel”).

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (Hà Nội)

  (file)

Proper noun

Hàn Xẻng

1. (humorous or ironic, offensive) South Korea

   Synonym: Xẻng