chúa sơn lâm

Vietnamese

Etymology

chúa (“lord”) +‎ sơn lâm (“the wilderness”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕuə˧˦ səːn˧˧ ləm˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕuə˨˩˦ ʂəːŋ˧˧ ləm˧˧] ~ [t͡ɕuə˨˩˦ səːŋ˧˧ ləm˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [cuə˦˥ ʂəːŋ˧˧ ləm˧˧] ~ [cuə˦˥ səːŋ˧˧ ləm˧˧]

Noun

chúa sơn lâm

1. king of the jungle (the title for the tiger)

Usage notes

• This title may also be inaccurately used for the lion, which is also dubbed "king of the jungle", even though the nowadays better-known lion population in Africa and the Asiatic population, historically better-known to the Indosphere and Sinosphere, do not really live in jungles but at most only dry forests, rainforests being one of many natural barriers to lions' dispersal.