chẳng

See also: chang, Chang, cháng, chàng, chāng, and chǎng

Vietnamese

Etymology

Originally the chief negator in earlier stages of Vietnamese; this usage as the neutral negator was replaced by không, but chẳng and other negators are still widely used in many situations. Cognate with Muong chăng, Nguôn chẳng. Compare Thai ช่าง (châang), Lao ຊ່າງ (sāng, “to not care”). See also chăng and chả.

Pronunciation

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

Adverb

chẳng • (庄, 拯, 庒, 極, 丕, 丞)

1. not at all

   Chẳng biết. ― No idea.

2. even if not

   Chẳng chua, nhưng vẫn có thể là chanh.

   Even if it isn’t sour, it could still be a lemon.

3. if not
4. there is not

Synonyms

• (not at all): đâu, không, chả, đếch (vulgar), đách (vulgar), đéo (vulgar), cóc, ứ

See also

Derived terms

• chẳng bao lâu
• chẳng bõ
• chẳng hạn
• chẳng mấy chốc
• chẳng qua
• chẳng thà
• chẳng thể
• cực chẳng đã

 

References

• "chẳng" in Hồ Ngọc Đức, Free Vietnamese Dictionary Project (details)
• Lê Sơn Thanh, "Nom-Viet.dat", WinVNKey (details)