đá

See also: đà, đã, đả, and Appendix:Variations of "da"

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɗaː˧˦]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɗaː˨˩˦]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɗaː˦˥]
Audio (Hà Nội): (file)

Etymology 1

From Proto-Vietic *l-taːʔ (“rock”). Cognate with Arem atæːˀ. Attested in Phật thuyết đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh (佛說大報父母恩重經) as 𪜀打, the simplified composition of 羅 (MC la) + 打 (MC taengX) (modern SV: la đả).

Schuessler (2007: p. 462)^[1] proposes that this Vietic word and Khmer ដា (daa) (which is likely borrowed from Vietnamese or another Vietic language instead of being inherited from a common source) might be related to Chinese 石 (OC *dAk) (B-S) (SV: thạch). However, this is unlikely due to both:

the mismatch between final *-k and *-ʔ, which requires Schuessler to assume that Chinese added "the familiar final -k" after foreign *-ʔ, resulting in *-ʔ-k > *-k (for an analogy, Old Chinese 汝 (OC *naʔ) > 若 (OC *nak)), therefore reducing his proposal's parsimony;
that so far only nasal pre-initials, not *-l-, are known to have a voicing effect on Old Chinese voiceless initials (see for an example Baxter & Sagart, 2014: p. 81-83,^[2] among others); so Proto-Vietic *l-t- would unlikely become Old Chinese *d-.

Noun

(classifier tảng, hòn, viên, cục) đá • (𥒥, 坧)

rock, stone
(by extension) ice as used for consumption or refrigeration
(slang) meth, methamphetamine

Usage notes

tảng is often used to refer to big rocks, viên to small stones, hòn to mid-sized or small stones/rocks. cục is the colloquial classifier, used for stones and rocks of all sizes, although usually on the smaller side.
the above "rule" is not always followed.

Derived terms

References

^ Schuessler, Axel (2007) ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese‎^[1], Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, →ISBN.
^ Baxter, William H., Sagart, Laurent (2014) Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction, New York: Oxford University Press

Etymology 2

From Proto-Vietic *taʔ. Cognate with Arem tʌːˀ.

Verb

đá • (打, 跢)

to kick
đòn đá ― a kick

cú đá ― a kick

các đòn đá taekwondo ― taekwondo kicks
(colloquial, slang) to dump (one's girlfriend, boyfriend, etc.); to abandon
(Southern Vietnam) to fight each other
(Southern Vietnam) to go; to come by
(colloquial, Northern Vietnam) to eat or drink
đá bát phở ― to eat a bowl of phở
(colloquial, Northern Vietnam) to steal
Ai đá cái mũ của tao rồi? ― Who stole my hat?