râm

See also: ram, Ram, RAM, rám, Râm, rắm, and ramm-

Vietnamese

Etymology

Frome Proto-Vietic *-jəm (“black”). The unusual onset change is most likely due to the taboo of mentioning dâm.

Probably genetically unrelated to Thai ร่ม (rôm) and Chinese 陰／阴 (yīn) (although could be contaminated). As râm was not recorded in the 17th century Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum, the chance that Vietnamese borrowed the word from Tai languages is slim. The original meaning of the word was "black", as recorded in minor Vietic languages, not "shady".

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [zəm˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʐəm˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ɹəm˧˧]

Adjective

râm (reduplication râm râm)

1. shady

Derived terms

Derived terms

• kính râm
• râm mát