xinh

Vietnamese

Etymology

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 清 (SV: thanh).

Attested as a variant of xênh (as in xênh xang) in Đại Nam Quấc âm tự vị (1895). The earlier meaning appears to be along the line of "neat (of appearance), graceful (of manner)", as in the (now obsolete?) compound xinh lịch (cf. thanh lịch (清歷)).

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [sïŋ˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [sɨn˧˧]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [sɨn˧˧]

Adjective

xinh • (撐, 撑, 生, 𣛟, 𦎡) (diminutive reduplication xinh xinh)

nice; pretty
xinh như con tinh tinh ― pretty as a chimpanzee (rhyming slang)

Derived terms