văn vẻ

Vietnamese

Etymology

văn (“writing”) +‎ vẻ (“appearance”). Alternatively, this is simply an -e reduplication of văn, with the association with vẻ coming about later.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [van˧˧ vɛ˧˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [vaŋ˧˧ vɛ˧˨]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [vaŋ˧˧ vɛ˨˩˦] ~ [jaŋ˧˧ jɛ˨˩˦]

Adjective

văn vẻ

1. (writing, of a written piece) that sounds literary; that sounds like good, well-structured writing

   Bài này được. Văn vẻ phết !

   This ain't bad. Has some good prose.