chuột bạch

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Vietnamese

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Etymology

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chuột (mouse, rat) +‎ bạch (white), calque of Chinese 白鼠 (bạch thử). Chinese (white) was likely not translated to trắng in order to indicate that the compound refers specifically white laboratory mouse and not just any white mouse or rat.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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(classifier con) chuột bạch

  1. a white mouse, especially a white laboratory mouse
  2. (figuratively) a guinea pig; a lab rat (living experimental subject)