Hán tự

See also: hantu

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 漢字, composed of 漢 (“Han; China”) and 字 (“written character”).

This is one of the cases where a Sino-Vietnamese compound became more widely used in the modern language due to perceived "archaism". In late 19th-early 20th century and current-day Vietnamese, chữ Hán, along with chữ Nho and chữ Tàu, have been the dominant terms for "Chinese characters"; Hán tự, although it was never the dominant term, on the other hand, is probably more used in modern Vietnamese than in older texts due to such perceived "archaism". Even earlier, "Chinese characters" were called simply chữ, while the derived system was called Nôm or Quốc âm (“國音”).

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (Hà Nội)

  (file)

Noun

Hán tự

1. (uncommon) Chinese character

   Synonyms: chữ Hán, chữ Nho, chữ Tàu