nét ngài
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Vietnamese
[edit]Etymology
[edit]See mắt phượng mày ngài, mắt phụng mày ngài.
In Truyện Kiều, whose writer was born in North Central Vietnam, this is also a pun on ngài (“human; body”) and the line means both "having thick silkworm-shaped eyebrows" and "having a well-endowed body".
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [nɛt̚˧˦ ŋaːj˨˩]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [nɛt̚˦˧˥ ŋaːj˦˩]
- (Saigon) IPA(key): [nɛk̚˦˥ ŋaːj˨˩]
Noun
[edit]- silkworm-shaped eyebrows; (figurative) perfectly shaped eyebrows
- 1820, Nguyễn Du (阮攸), Đoạn trường tân thanh (Truyện Kiều)[1], published 1866, lines 19–20:
雲 莊 重 恪 潙 囷 𦝄 苔 惮 𧍋 𦬑 囊 - Vân’s beauty was very remarkable.
Her eyebrows – full crescent arcs, her moonlit face – oval.
- Vân’s beauty was very remarkable.