tràng giang đại hải

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 長江 and 大海, literally "[like a] long river and big ocean".

This saying uses the conservative reading tràng for 長／长 instead of the usual trường.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕaːŋ˨˩ zaːŋ˧˧ ʔɗaːj˧˨ʔ haːj˧˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʈaːŋ˦˩ jaːŋ˧˧ ʔɗaːj˨˩ʔ haːj˧˨]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʈaːŋ˨˩ jaːŋ˧˧ ʔɗaːj˨˩˨ haːj˨˩˦]

Adjective

tràng giang đại hải

1. (idiomatic, of a piece of writing) overlong