chuột bạch

Vietnamese

Etymology

chuột (“mouse, rat”) +‎ bạch (“white”), calque of Chinese 白鼠 (bạch thử). Chinese 白 (“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

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕuət̚˧˨ʔ ʔɓajk̟̚˧˨ʔ]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕuək̚˨˩ʔ ʔɓat̚˨˩ʔ]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [cuək̚˨˩˨ ʔɓat̚˨˩˨]

Noun

(classifier con) chuột bạch

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