giun

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *p-luːn ~ *p-ruːn, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *(b)ruun; cognate with Khmer ព្រូន (pruun), Mon မြုန် (pərùn).

Trùn, a different descendant of the same root, is still widely used in some dialects.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [zun˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [jun˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [jʊwŋ͡m˧˧]
• Homophones: dung, Dung, vun, vung

Noun

(classifier con) giun • (𧉙, 𧑒)

1. a worm (animal)

   ngủ với giun

   to die

   (literally, “to sleep with worms”)

   • 2011: Trịnh Huy Ninh, Viking hung bạo, p.49; translated from Horrible Histories: The Vicious Vikings by Terry Deary and Martin Brown

     Nhát gan chỉ núp mà run
     Rồi thì cũng ngủ với giun thôi mà

     Go ahead and hide during every battle
     You will drop dead eventually

Derived terms

• giun đất (“earthworm”)
• giun đũa (“giant roundworm”)
• giun tóc (“human whipworm”)
• giun móc (“hookworm”)
• giun kim (“pinworm”)

See also

• sán