bằng

See also: bang, bàng, bâng, bāng, băng, bảng, bǎng, and bång

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɓaŋ˨˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɓaŋ˦˩]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʔɓaŋ˨˩]

• Audio (Hà Nội)

  (file)

Etymology 1

Sino-Vietnamese word from 平 (“level; even”); originally the Northern reading. Its distribution likely already extended beyond Northern Vietnam by the time Vietnamese started to be written down in the Latin script. See also bình, the current chief form used in compounds and the main form in placenames in Southern Vietnam.

The expected reading of the Northern form would be *bềnh, which is unattested. Compare pairs such as bệnh vs. bịnh, nghênh vs. nghinh, lệnh vs. lịnh.

It is sometimes claimed that this form is due to the taboo of the title 北平王 (Bắc Bình/Bằng vương) of Quang Trung, but this is demonstrably false as bàng (as well as bàng an, bàng ien) is attested in Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651), a dictionary based chiefly on the dialects of Northern Vietnam.

Adjective

bằng

1. (of a surface) flat
2. (linguistics, poetry, of a tone) being a ngang or huyền tone

   Antonym: trắc

3. (poetry, of a rhyme) carrying a bằng tone
4. (mathematics) equal to

   một cộng một bằng hai ― one plus one equal to two

5. (geometry) congruent to

   góc A và góc B bằng nhau ― angle A and angle B are congruent (literally, “angle A and angle B are equal to each other”)

   góc A bằng góc B ― angle A is congruent to angle B

Usage notes

• Both the ngang and huyền are equivalent of Chinese Middle Chinese 平聲 (“level tone”), which involved a steady level pitch. In Sino-Vietnamese morphemes, the ngang tone was placed on Middle Chinese syllables that began with a 清聲母／清声母 (qīng shēngmǔ, “voiceless obstruent onset”) or 次濁聲母／次浊声母 (cìzhuó shēngmǔ, “sonorant onset”), and the huyền tone was placed on syllables that began with a 全濁聲母／全浊声母 (quánzhuó shēngmǔ, “voiced obstruent onset”).

See also

Derived terms

• bằng đẳng
• bằng yên
• Cao Bằng
• cân bằng
• công bằng
• đồng bằng
• thăng bằng

 

• đồng dạng (“similar”)

Etymology 2

Sino-Vietnamese word from 憑 (“rely on; on the basis of; by the means of; certificate; diploma”).

Noun

bằng

1. diploma; certificate; license; degree

Synonyms

• bằng cấp

Derived terms

• bằng cấp (“diploma”)
• bằng lái xe (“driver’s license”)

See also

• giấy phép

Preposition

bằng

1. by; by means of

   bằng đường bộ ― by land

   bằng ô tô ― by car

   bằng tiếng Việt ― in Vietnamese

2. made of

   bức tường bằng gạch ― a wall of bricks; a brick wall

Verb

bằng

1. (with vào) to count (on), to depend (on)
   • 2005, chapter 1, in Cao Tự Thanh, transl., Anh hùng xạ điêu, Văn học, translation of 射雕英雄传 by Jīn Yōng (Kim Dung):

     - Lúc bấy giờ mà bằng vào khí khái anh hùng, thân thủ hào kiệt của hai vị, tìm tới Lâm An bắt thằng gian thần ấy, ba người bọn ta ăn thịt uống máu y thì không phải ngồi đây ăn đậu hủ uống rượu lạnh!

     "If at the time I could've counted on the heroic indomitability and the great abilities of the two of you to go to Lín'ān and capture that treacherous courtier, the three of us would now be eating his flesh and drinking his blood rather than sitting here eating tofu and drinking cold rice wine!"

Etymology 3

Sino-Vietnamese word from 鵬. See also đại bàng (“eagle”).

Noun

(classifier con) bằng

1. (rare, Chinese mythology) (chim ~) Peng, a giant mythical bird
   • Zhuangzi, ch. 1. English translation by James Legge; Vietnamese translation by Nguyễn Hiến Lê

     Biển Bắc có con cá gọi là cá côn, mình dài không biết mấy ngàn dặm. Nó biến thành con chim gọi là chim bằng, lưng rộng không biết mấy ngàn dặm.

     In the Northern Ocean there is a fish, the name of which is Kun - I do not know how many li in size. It changes into a bird with the name of Peng, the back of which is (also) - I do not know how many li in extent.

See also

• côn (“Kun, a giant mythical fish”)