màng nhĩ

Vietnamese

Etymology

màng +‎ nhĩ. The second element is from Chinese 耳 (“ear”), making this a rather unusual formation given how nhĩ is not normally used as a full-fledged morpheme in conjunction with non-Sino-Vietnamese ones. Probably a calque of Chinese 耳膜 (nhĩ mạc).

Compare lồi xỉ for another case with similar formation.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [maːŋ˨˩ ɲi˦ˀ˥]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [maːŋ˦˩ ɲɪj˧˨]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [maːŋ˨˩ ɲɪj˨˩˦]

Noun

màng nhĩ

1. (anatomy) an eardrum

   Synonym: lá nhĩ

   thủng màng nhĩ ― with perforated eardrums