Comparanda of Modern Chinese and Vietnamese Commonalities

Dialectal Similarities Are Roots of Yue languages

by dchph

This article initiates a comparative survey of Sinitic-Vietnamese lexical items, highlighting shared phonological and semantic traits across Chinese dialects. Through examples drawn from Mandarin, Cantonese, Hainanese, and other regional varieties, the chapter demonstrates that many Vietnamese words, surprisingly abundant in colloquial usage, align closely with Mandarin. These correspondences often manifest in doublets, triplets, and idiomatic expressions, revealing a deep structural affinity. The analysis emphasizes that such similarities are not coincidental but rooted in historical phonology, cultural transmission, and syntactic convergence. 

I) Modern dialectal echoes: Reclaiming Yue through everyday speech

Unlike Japanese or Korean, Vietnamese has sustained a continuous Sinitic orientation for more than two millennia, absorbing lexical material from diverse Chinese dialects and reshaping it into native forms. This section begins a focused survey of Sinitic–Vietnamese items, tracing shared phonological and semantic features across dialects and subdialects spanning multiple historical epochs. As is standard in historical linguistics, readers may proceed on the widely accepted premise that certain phonological correspondences serve as valid anchors for comparative analysis – no extended justification is required.

Consider the Mandarin compound 雞母 (jīmǔ), which plausibly encompasses both Sino‑Vietnamese gàmái and gàmẹ 'hen'. Its parallel form 雞公 (jīgōng) corresponds to vernacular gàcồ, while 雄雞 (xióngjī) aligns with gàtrống 'rooster'. Notably, the latter appears in reversed syntactic order [modified + modifier], reflecting native Vietnamese structure. These compounds derive from morpho‑syllabic roots that were once flexible in position before crystallizing into stable polysyllabic forms.

Such correspondences serve as valid entry points for analysis without requiring exhaustive etymological parsing of each item. They are treated as cognates under established principles of historical phonology. When multiple doublets, triplets, or quartets occur, they reveal variations in frequency and usage across colloquial speech. Irregular vocal interchanges among speakers have contributed to evolving sound-change patterns in the target language. The deeper questions of why and how such changes occurred belong to another branch of inquiry. Here, the intent is to present newly identified correspondences, many of which emerge from reexamining and remediating earlier works, including André-Georges Haudricourt’s foundational study of tonogenesis (1954).

Sinitic-Vietnamese doublets, or derived forms of shared origin, often correspond to contemporary Mandarin, regional colloquial, and dialectal variants. Some appear in idiomatic usage, suggesting a close – if not genealogical – relationship. These words share not only phonological and syllabic structures but also distinctive semantic traits, with etymology deeply embedded in cultural contexts that shaped their development.

Table 1 - Sinitic-Vietnamese poultry terms

Chinese	Pinyin	Vietnamese	Gloss	Dialectal parallels (Cantonese / Hainanese)	Notes
雞母	jīmǔ	gàmái, gàmẹ	'hen'	Cantonese gāai máh / Hainanese gai mu	Shows polysyllabic stability; maternal marker retained
雞公	jīgōng	gàcồ	'rooster'	Cantonese gāai gūng / Hainanese gai gong	Vernacular form; semantic drift toward male bird
雄雞	xióngjī	gàtrống	'rooster'	Cantonese hùhng gāai / Hainanese hong gai	Vietnamese reversed syntactic order [modifier + modified]
母雞	mǔjī	gàmẹ	'hen'	Cantonese máh gāai / Hainanese mu gai	Compound order variation; reflects morpho‑syllabic flexibility

Notes:

• Polysyllabicity: Vietnamese forms crystallize into stable compounds (gàtrống, gàcồ) while Mandarin retains morpho‑syllabic flexibility.

• Syntactic order: Vietnamese often reverses modifier–modified order, e.g., gàtrống vs. 雄雞 (xióngjī).

• Dialectal resonance: Cantonese and Hainanese show near‑identical compounds, reinforcing Yue continuity.

• Semantic layering: Terms like gàmẹ and gàmái highlight maternal associations embedded in poultry lexicon.

Historically, and in contrast to Japanese or Korean, Vietnamese has maintained a deeply Sinitic orientation for over 2,230 years, marked by a continuous influx of lexical material from Chinese sources, including contemporary media. The following selection presents representative items rooted in Mandarin, drawn from both colloquial usage and regional dialects. For clarity, idiomatic expressions are temporarily excluded from analysis.

II) Mandarin’s lingua franca legacy: Beyond Cantonese bias

Table 2 - Representative Sinitic-Vietnamese lexical items

Sinitic- Vietnamese	Sino- Vietnamese	Mandarin / Dialect	Gloss	Notes
con	SV tử	子 zǐ < MC tsɨ < OC *ʔslɯʔ	'child'	Cognate with OC root. Cf. 仔 /kẽ/ (Hokkien)
ba	SV sa	三 sān, sàn, sā, sēn < MC sam	'three'	Hainanese /ta1/; variants tam, tám, sâm
chào	SV tảo	早 zăo < MC tsaw < OC *ʔsuːʔ	'hello'	cf. VS sớm 'early'
nào	SV na	哪 něi, nǎi, nā < MC na < OC *naːl, *naːlʔ	'which'	Multiple OC reconstructions
đừng	—	甭 péng (Beijing) < MC kʰi < OC *kʰlids	'don't'	Colloquial negator
tim, lòng	SV tâm	心 xīn < MC sim < OC *slɯm	'heart, feelings'	cf. VS lòng, tim; idiomatic parallels with 點心 diănxīn
mắt	SV mục	目 mù < MC muwk < OC *mug	'eye'	cf. VS mắtkiếng 'eyeglasses'; Malay /mat/
ốm	SV ân	奀 ēn	'skinny'	Extended to 'sick, ill'
đó	SV na	那 nà, nèi, nuò < MC na < OC *na:l	'that'	Huế subdialect nớ; possible Chamic influence
bậu	SV muội	妹 mèi < MC mwəj < OC *mɯːds	'sister'	Dialectal variants mui6, moe5, be6
biết	—	明白 míngbǎi (SV minhbạch)	'know'	Hainanese /bat7/; irregular AM form
được	SV đắc	得 dé < MC tək < OC *tɯːɡ	'obtain, get'	Semantic shift toward passive; cf. 被 bèi
tiếng	SV thanh	聲 shēng < MC ɕiajŋ < OC qʰjeŋ	'sound, fame, language'	Dialectal variants; cf. Shaozhou Tuhua
trong, đúng, trúng	SV trung, trúng	中 zhōng, zhòng	'inside', 'correct, hit'	Northeastern dialect usage
xong, sẵn	SV thành	成 chéng < MC dʑiajŋ < OC *djeŋ	'ready, okay'	Beijing colloquial
rồi, nổi	SV liễu	了 liǎo < MC lɛw < OC *reːwʔ	'already, capacity'	cf. 忘不了 Wàng bùliăo; 忘了 Wànglē
sẽ	SV tương	將 jiāng < MC tsɨaŋ < OC *ʔsaŋ	'will'	Multiple OC reconstructions
vẫn	SV nhưng	仍 réng < MC ȵiŋ < OC *njɯŋ	'still'	Xi’an dialect /vaŋ12/
hội, họp, hẹn, hụi, hay, hiểu	SV hội	會 huì, 曉 xiǎo, 知 zhī	'meeting, understand'	Semantic cluster
lợn	SV độn	豘 tún < MC don < OC *ɫhwǝ̄n	'pig'	cf. VS heo
cún	SV khuyển	犬 quăn < MC khwijen < OC *khwyi:nʔ	'puppy'	cf. 犬牙 quănyá → VS răngcấm
cầy	SV cẩu	狗 gǒu < MC kjəw < OC *ko:ʔ	'dog'	Proto-Vietic klo
trâu, ngầu, ngon	SV ngưu	牛 níu < MC ŋjəw < OC *ŋujə	'buffalo, tough'	cf. Cant. ngau4
kho	SV khấu	扣 kòu	'stew'	cf. Cantonese 扣肉 kòuròu
kẹo	SV khú	摳 kòu	'stingy'	Semantic extension
tếu	SV đậu	逗 dòu	'funny'	cf. VS đùa
soài	SV soa	檨 shē	'mango'	Fukienese /suã/
cam	SV cam	柑 gān < MC kam < OC *ka:m	'orange'	Stable cognate
chanh	SV trành	橙 chéng < MC ɖajŋ < OC *dhrǝ̄ŋ	'lemon'	cf. VS camsành
quýt	SV quất	橘 jú < MC kjwit < OC *kwit	'tangerine'	Dialectal parallels
bánh	SV bính	餅 bǐng < MC pjɛŋ < OC *peŋʔ	'biscuit'	Stable cognate
cháo	SV chúc	粥 zhōu < MC tʂiwk < OC *tɕuwk	'rice porridge'	Vernacular staple
chè	SV trà	茶 chá	'tea, sweet soup'	cf. Teochow 香茶 satế
cúng	SV cống	供 gōng < MC kuawŋ < OC kloŋ	'sacrificial offering'	Semantic layering
chỉ	VS tiền	錢 qián < MC tsiɛn < OC zlen	'mace, money'	cf. VS vốnliếng
tá	SV đả	打 dǎ	'dozen'	cf. VS đánh
phở	SV phấn	粉 fěn < MC pun < OC *pɯnʔ	'noodle, flour'	cf. VS bún, bột

III) Polysyllabic cognates and semantic drift: A methodological reboot

Table 3 - Sinitic-Vietnamese commonalities

Negation / Adverbs

Vietnamese	Mandarin / Dialect	Gloss	Notes
chẳnghề	未嘗 wèicháng; 未 wèi < MC muj < OC *mɯds; 嘗 cháng < MC dʑɨaŋ < OC *djaŋ	'never'	Compound negator, parallels SV thường / thưởng

Kinship / Family

Vietnamese	Mandarin / Dialect	Gloss	Notes
trẻnhỏ	小孩兒 xiăoháir (Beijing); 小娃兒 xiăowá'ér (Nanjing); 細人子 xīrénzǐ (Changsha)	'little kids'	Dialectal variants
đámtrẻnhỏ	大細兒 dàxī'ér (Hakka)	'little kids'	Hakka usage
lũtrẻcon	細佬哥 /sej1lu3ko5/ (Cantonese)	'little kids'	Cantonese colloquial
bàxã	媳婦兒 xífūr (Beijing); 老婆 lăopó (Cantonese, NE Mandarin)	'wife'	Husband’s address
đằngấy	堂客 tángkè (Hunan, Hubei)	'wife'	Regional usage

Pronouns / Collectives

Vietnamese	Mandarin / Dialect	Gloss	Notes
chúngmình	咱們 zánmen	'we'	cf. chúngta

Poultry / Animals

Vietnamese	Mandarin / Dialect	Gloss	Notes
gàcồ	雞公 jīgōng; 公雞 gōngjī	'rooster'	Same order in Cantonese, Hainanese, Amoy
gàmái, gàmẹ	雞母 jīmǔ; 母雞 mǔjī	'hen'	Dialectal parallels; cf. SV kêmẫu
bụbẫm, mậpphệ	肥胖 féipàn	'healthy baby, fat'	Reduplicative morphemes

Food / Agriculture

Vietnamese	Mandarin / Dialect	Gloss	Notes
ngôbắp	苞米 bāomǐ (clipping of 玉米 yùmǐ)	'corn'	cf. SV ngọcmễ
đậuphụng	花生 huāshēng; Cant. /fa1sang1/	'peanut'	Northern VN 落 luò (SV lạc)
chảlụa	炸肉 zhàròu	'meatloaf'	cf. 扎肉 zhāròu
barọi	肥肉 féiròu	'fat meat'	cf. SV phìnhục
bộtbáng	波霸 bōbà	'tapioca'	Modern borrowing

Character traits

Vietnamese	Mandarin / Dialect	Gloss	Notes
biếnglười	犯懶 fànlǎn	'lazy'	cf. VS lườibiếng
luônluôn	往往 wángwǎng; 老老 láoláo (Beijing)	'always'	Loangraph usage
hiềnlành	善良 shànliáng; 賢 xián	'good character'	cf. SV thiệnlương
vấtvả	奔波 bēnbó	'work hand to mouth'	cf. SV bônba

Actions / Expressions

Vietnamese	Mandarin / Dialect	Gloss	Notes
tắmrửa	洗澡 xízăo	'bathe'	cf. SV tẩytảo
rácrưới, rácrến	垃圾 lājī	'trash'	cf. SV lạpcấp
dêxòm	淫蟲 yínchóng	'lecherous'	cf. SV dâmtrùng
trộmcướp	盜賊 dàozéi	'robber'	cf. SV đạotặc
đánhcắp, đánhcướp	打劫 dăjié	'rob'	cf. SV đảkiếp
ănđòn	挨打 ăidă	'get beaten'	cf. SV nhaiđả
trăntrối	交待 jiāodài	'deathbed words'	cf. VS trốitrăn
nhìnnhận	承認 chéngrèn	'admit'	cf. SV thừanhận
chịuđựng	承受 chéngshòu	'withstand'	cf. VS chịuđựng
mĩmcười	微笑 wěixiào; 含笑 hánxiào	'smile'	cf. SV vitiếu, hàmtiếu
chánngán	厭倦 yànjuān	'weary'	cf. SV yếmquyện
nóngnảy	衝動 chōngdòng	'temper'	cf. SV xungđộng
tầmbậy, sàbát	三八 sānbā	'nonsense'	Dialectal sexist usage
làmhỏng	弄黃 nònghuáng	'spoil, break'	cf. SV lộnghoàng
cùlét	胳肢 gézhī	'tickle'	cf. VS thọclét
mainày	明兒 mínr (Beijing)	'tomorrow'	cf. VS ngàymai
riêngtư	隐私 yǐnsī	'privacy'	cf. SV ẩntư
chếtyểu	夭折 yāozhé	'die young'	cf. SV yêuchiết
mộttay	一手 yīshǒu	'expert'	cf. SV nhấtthủ
bạttai, bàntay	手板 shǒubăn; 巴掌 bāzhăng	'spank, palm'	cf. SV bachưởng
bắtcóc	綁架 băngjià	'kidnap'	cf. SV bảnggiả
lẽsống	理想 líxiăng	'ideal, raison d’être'	cf. SV lítưởng
bậnviệc	忙活 mánghuó	'busy working'	cf. SV manghoạt
đìuhiu	蕭條 xiāotiáo	'desolate'	cf. SV tiêuđiều

Money / Economy

Vietnamese	Mandarin / Dialect	Gloss	Notes
đồngbạc	銅板 tóngbăn /銅幣 tóngbì	'monetary unit'	cf. SV đồngbản/đồngtệ
đồngtiền	銅錢 tóngqián	'money'	cf. SV đồngtiền
đitiền, điđám	隨錢 suíqián	'give money gift'	cf. SV tuỳtiền
vốnliếng	本錢 běnqián	'asset', 'capital'	cf. VS tiềnvốn

IV) Idiomatic convergence and cultural embedding

Occurrences of historical sound changes are common in any language. 

Those familiar with Indo-European etymologies may have encountered irregular shifts among words from the same root across related languages, for example, 'water', 'stay', 'throne', 'rank', 'sudden', or 'throne' in English and 'eau', 'rester', 'trône', 'rang', 'soudane', or 'trône' in French, respectively. 

Readers who are not linguists may have little idea how these changes actually occurred. It's no surprise that many cannot grasp the established patterns of the etyma cited above. To them, the words may not even appear cognate. What they might notice more easily are missing 'heads' or 'tails' – drops of initial, medial, or final sounds – similar to how French handles conjugation or case endings.

In the case of Sinitic-Vietnamese vocabulary, sound change patterns differ from the systematic interchanges found in historical phonology. These changes don't always follow the expected rules, whether viewed synchronically or diachronically. Notably, such shifts were more drastic in ancient times as seen today, partly because modern media allow people across regions to speak more uniformly, as seen in English or Chinese.

Many culturally accented words go beyond basic vocabulary. In both Vietnamese and Chinese dialects, there are northern colloquial expressions with no parallels in other Sino-Tibetan or Mon-Khmer languages. Consider the following examples, grouped by polysyllabic structure:

• 'làmgương' (榜樣 bǎngyàng, 'exemplify')
• 'hiếuthảo' (孝順 xiàoshùn, 'filial piety')
• 'đứchạnh' (德行 déxìng, 'virtue')
• 'vềtrời' (歸天 guītiān, 'pass away')
• 'suốivàng' (黃泉 huángquán, 'the afterworld')
• 'sưtửHàĐông' (河東獅子 Hédōng shīzǐ, 'tiger wife')

These examples show phonological, syntactic, and semantic interpolations that suggest a unique linguistic affiliation. 

Both languages share morphemic traits that seem to stem from a common ancient root. For instance, morphemes beginning with 'f-' often relate to blowing or flying; those ending in '-ay' or '-ây' suggest smallness or youth; and those ending in '-au' imply withdrawal or contraction (see Đào Trọng Đủ, 1983).

Over more than 3,000 years of contact (Zhang, 1990), many etyma have localized into native Vietnamese forms, much like Japanese Kanji. Some terms began as technical concepts and entered common usage, for example:

• 'mặttiền' and 'mặttrước' (前面 qiánmiàn, SV 'tiềndiện', 'facade')
• 'trướcmặt' (面前 miànqián, 'front')

Newcomers to this field should note that while many Sino-Vietnamese words are used in speech, like 'thịphạm' (示范 shìfàn, 'demonstrate') and 'đảmbảo' (擔保 dānbǎo, 'guarantee'), others remain literary and follow stricter rules, for instance:

• 'thượngsơn' (上山 shàngshān – clipping of 上遊 山人shàng​yóu shānrén ) may become VS 'lênnúi' or 'lênnon', but NOT 'lên' + SV 'sơn' ("lênsơn" that may mean something like 'put on a new paint' associated with different Chinese etymons.)
• 'ngườiThượng' (上人 shàngrén, 'montagnard') is preferred over 'sơnnhân' (山人 shānrén, 'mountain person')
• 'giangsơn' (江山 jiāngshān) and 'sôngnúi', 'núisông', or 'nonsông' (VS) both mean 'country' or 'mountains and rivers'

V) Fission forms and tonal evolution: The case for Sinitic-Vietnamese continuity

In historical phonology, divergence often leads to fission forms that evolve into vernacular expressions. Examples include:

• 'mainày' from 明兒 mínr → 'mai' ('tomorrow')
• 'bênhvực' from 庇護 bìhù → 'bênh' ('side with')
• 'kẹođường' from 糖果 tángguǒ → 'kẹo' ('candy')

During the colonial period under imperial China, Chinese loanwords continued to enter Vietnamese and were gradually adapted to local speech habits. This process included phonemic substitutions, such as /b/ becoming either /ɓ/ or /b/, and /p/ shifting toward /pf/ or /ph/, e.g., 

• 'buồng' (房 fáng, SV phòng, 'room')
• 'buông' (放 fàng, SV phóng, 'let go')
• 'buồm' 帆 (fán, SV phàm, 'sail mast')
• 'bè' 筏 (fá, SV phà, 'raft, ferry')
• 'bữa' (飯 fàn, SV phạn, 'cooked rice')
• 'bực' (煩 fán, SV phiền, 'disturbed')

Sound changes often begin with initial consonants as reflected the phonological tendencies of Vietnamese. For example, the Vietnamese word 'dở' /jə/ derives from 亞 yà, Middle Chinese /ʔɑ/, and corresponds to the Sino-Vietnamese form 'a'. Similarly, 'yên' /jen/ comes from 安 ān, MC /ʔan/, and aligns with the SV reading 'an' /ɑn/. The word 'em' /ɛm/, meaning 'younger sibling', traces back to 妹妹 mèimèi, MC /mwojmwoj/, showing a clear contraction and localization by clipping the original form.

Interestingly, most monosyllabic words in both Chinese and Vietnamese begin with a consonant, in contrast to the vowel-initial tendency found in English. This shared structural feature is evident in acronym formation, such as HHQGĐNA for 'Hiệp hội Quốc gia Đông Nam Á' and DNYGJXH for 東南亞 國家 協會 Dōngnán Yà Guójiā Xiéhuì, the full name of ASEAN, also known as 東盟 Dōngméng.

Phonologically, omission of sounds can result in haplologic forms. For example:

• 'đau' < 痛 tòng → SV 'thống' ('pain')
• 'thau' < 銅 tóng → SV 'đồng' ('bronze')

Vietnamese finals retain diphthongs and endings like /-wŋ/, /-wŋ͡m/, /-wk/, and /-wk͡p/ and some change into VS /-aw/. For instance, SV 'thống' /tʰəwŋ͡m5/ versus Mandarin /tʰoŋ4/. Vietnamese also preserves a wide syllabic range and eight tones with relatively stable values, peculiar features inherited from Middle Chinese but lost in some modern dialects, especially Mandarin.

Etymologically, Chinese loanwords entered Vietnamese from various dialects and historical periods. Historically, the vocabularies of Vietnamese and Chinese have evolved independently since their separation following the decline of the Tang Dynasty and, later, the NamHán State in the 10th century. These words were gradually localized and modified, often without strict linguistic constraints, especially in the case of everyday vocabulary spoken widely among the illiterate population, who were not influenced by literary conventions.

VI) From loanwords to lexical inheritance: Reconstructing the Yue core

In certain cases, lexical items from the donor language were reintroduced into Vietnamese, often in altered or newly formed versions. These adaptations were shaped not only by phonological shifts but also by semantic influence from other existing words in the language, for example:

• 'hoạt' vs. 'việc' (活 huó, 'work') vs. 役 (yì, SV dịch) vs. 务 (wù , SV vụ)
• 'cộ' vs. 'xe' 檋 (jù, SV cục, 'carriage') vs. 車 (chē, SV xa)
• 'chè' vs. 'cháo' (粥 zhōu, 'rice porridge') vs. 茶 (chá, SV trà)
• 'tơ' vs. 'sợi' (絲 sī, 'silk') vs. 線 (xiàn, SV tuyến)
• 'lam' (藍 lán, 'indigo dye') vs. 'chàm' 靛 (diàn , SV điện)
• 'chài' (羅 luó, 'fish net') vs. 'lưới' 絡 (luò, SV lạc)

Each Chinese character may appear in multiple Vietnamese forms, sometimes within the same compound. For instance:

• 'xecộ' (車 chē, 'xe' + 車 chē, 'cộ'), comparable to Mandarin 輁車 júchē
• 'tộilỗi' (罪 zuì, SV 'tội' + 罪 zuì, VS 'lỗi'), analogous to Mandarin 罪過 zuìguò or 罪惡 zuì’è

Aside from more recent borrowings, ancient etyma and their locally adapted variants have become inseparable from Vietnamese vocabulary development. Consider the term 'buồngtim' (心房 xīnfáng, 'heart chamber'), composed of:

• 'buồng' (房 fáng, 'room')
• 'tim' (心 xīn, 'heart')

Here, 房 fáng is synonymous with the modern Chinese 室 shì (SV thất), and 'buồngtim' conveys the concept of a heart ventricle, equivalent to the medical term 'ventriculus cordis' or 心室 xīnshì in Chinese, and SV 'tâmthất' in Vietnamese, all medical terminologies currently in use.

Many of the examples above may reappear in different contexts to help readers recognize irregular sound changes and lexical formation patterns. 

Repetition serves a pedagogical purpose: by encountering these forms multiple times, readers are more likely to internalize them. Introducing new examples with similar characteristics would require additional explanation and might risk confusion. For instance:

• 'loan' (SV) vs. 'vịnh' (VS) for 灣 wān ('bay')
• 'quý' (SV /kwi5/) vs. 'mùa' (VS) for 季 jì ('season')
• 'thặng' (SV) vs. 'thừa' (VS) for 乘 chèng ('surplus')

Such patterns of sound change have been widely attested and accepted within linguistic circles. Scholars in historical linguistics often treat them as foundational premises, requiring no elaborate justification before proceeding to deeper analysis.

However, readers should not expect a consistent one-to-one correspondence across all phonetic segments – initials, medials, finals, and especially syllabic endings, or 'vần' (SV 'vận', Chinese 韻 yùn). In Vietnamese, a monosyllabic word typically consists of an initial and a final. In dissyllabic formations, the second 'vần' – the final of the second syllable – is especially prone to change. These finals, such as  /-at/, /-ang/, /-uyên/, and others, are essential phonological elements and represent a distinctive trait of the language.

Over time, changes in medial and final segments have naturally occurred, governed by internal linguistic rules. For example:

• 蒜 suàn → 'tỏi', SV 'toán' (garlic)
• 鮮 xiān → 'tươi', SV 'tiên' (fresh)

Modern French and English loanwords in Vietnamese can further help illustrate these sound change principles, reinforcing the broader patterns observed in historical phonology (see What Makes Chinese So Vietnamese - Appendix A.)

Comparable sound changes have also occurred on the Chinese side, contributing to the divergence in pronunciation between originally shared loanwords in both languages. Over time, syllabic and tonal shifts – some quite drastic – have taken place, particularly in Early Mandarin and its modern form. These developments were shaped by the linguistic influence of northern non-Han groups such as the Tartars, the Khitan (Kim), Mongols, and Manchurians, who collectively governed China for more than a millennium.

To better understand how sound changes have impacted cognates, doublets, and other derivatives from common roots, we may examine a series of legitimate forms found within the Sino-Vietnamese (HánViệt) vocabulary. These examples reflect well-attested phonological interchanges rooted in Middle Chinese, and their articulation reveals consistent patterns of transformation. The forms presented below illustrate how these historical changes are preserved in modern Mandarin pronunciation, as rendered in Putonghua pinyin.

Table 5 – Sinitic-Vietnamese Lexical Correspondences

Chinese	Pinyin	Sino‑Vietnamese	Sinitic-Vietnamese	Gloss / Notes
畢	bì	tất	rốt	'final'
承	chéng	thừa	dâng	'submit'
乘	chēng	thừa	—	'remains'
吃	chī	ngật	ăn, cf. xơi	'eat'; phonetic link with radical 乙 yǐ
鵝	é	nga	ngang, ngỗng	'goose'
而	ér	nhi	mà, nhưng	'but'
鳥	niǎo	điểu	—	'bird'
氣	qì	khí	hơi	'air'; Cant. /hei1/
前	qián	tiền	trước	'front'; Hainanese [taj]
集	jí	tập	gộp	'collect'
季	jì	quí	mùa	'season'
率	lǜ	suất	mức, mực	'rate'
民	mín	dân	—	'people'
名	míng	danh	—	'name'
聘	pǐn	sính	—	'betroth'
熱	rè	nhiệt	rát, nhức	'hot, sore'
肉	ròu	nhục	ruốc	'meat'; cf. chảlụa 炸肉, barọi 肥肉
扇	shàn	phiến	—	'flank'
攝	shè	nhiếp	nhặt	'gather up'
生	shēng	sinh	đẻ, sống	'living, give birth'; Hainanese [de]
偏	piān	thiên	xiên	'slant'
聽	tīng	thính	nghe	'hear'; Hainanese [k'e]
廳	tìng	sảnh	—	'hall'
娉	pīng	sính	—	'betroth'
灣	wān	loan	vịnh	'bay'; cf. placename Vũngtàu
惜	xì	tích	tiếc	'cherish'
吸	xì	hấp	hút	'inhale'
習	xí	tập	thói quen	'drill, habit'; cf. 習慣 xíguàn
洗	xǐ	tẩy	tắm, rửa, giặt	'wash'; cf. 洗澡 tắmrửa, 洗臉 rửamặt
瀉	xiè	tả	chảy, xổ	'diarrhea'
學	xué	học	—	'learn'; Cant. /hok8/, Hai. /fat8/
一	yī	nhất	một	'one'
藝	yì	nghệ	nghề	'arts, profession'
臆	yì	ức	ngực	'chest'
憶	yì	nhớ	ức	'memory'
義	yì	nghĩa, ngãi	—	'righteousness'
億	yì	ý, ức	tỷ	'100 million'; modern VN 'billion'
愉	yù	thâu, du	ẩu, vui	'joyous'
郵	yóu	bưu	—	'postal'
由	yóu	do	bởi	'because'
柚	yóu	bưu	bưởi, bòng	'pomelo'
游	yóu	du	bơi, lội	'swim'

A close examination of modern Vietnamese orthography reveals that many words, when compared to their modern Mandarin equivalents, have undergone transformations that render them nearly unrecognizable. Changes have affected all components – initials, medials, vowels, diphthongs, and finals – many of which have either shifted drastically or disappeared altogether. When compared to Cantonese pronunciations, however, a closer phonological alignment emerges, particularly with the patterns found in today's Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary. This comparison offers a broader picture of shared sound change phenomena.

Despite the global reach of modern communication, where the internet connects speakers across regions, the process of sound change continues. The question of how and why languages evolve remains a central topic in linguistic research.

As illustrated above, numerous exceptions and irregularities exist within these changes. Nonetheless, most interchanges in the Sino-Vietnamese lexicon follow systematic linguistic rules that reflect scholarly phonological behavior. These transformations tend to be more regular than those found in the broader Sinitic-Vietnamese vocabulary, which often resists batch-like shifts. In many cases, the evolution of these words may have been influenced by individual scholars who annotated or selected specific lexical forms. This makes it difficult to draw clear-cut patterns simply by tracing exceptional cases that deviate from conventional phonological norms.

A. Sound change and borrowing in Sinitic–Vietnamese

Sound changes from Chinese into Sinitic-Vietnamese have been an ongoing process, typically triggered by the practical need for new vocabulary. Unlike the widespread borrowing of English terms in many global languages, Vietnamese has absorbed Chinese words in real time and through live experience. For example, during the 22-year separation between North and South Vietnam (1954-1975), Southern speakers adopted fewer than a dozen American English words introduced by U.S. soldiers. Meanwhile, Northern speakers continued to borrow dialectal terms from Cantonese, brought in by Chinese advisors, likely from Guangxi’s Báihuà (白話) vernacular. Minus military jargons, these included food-related terms such as:

• 'vằnthánh' (餛飩 húndùn, 'wonton')
• 'xuỷcảo' (水餃 shuǐjiǎo, 'dumpling')
• 'mìchính' (味精 wèijīng, 'MSG')

Southern equivalents had long existed in other forms derived from local Cantonese community:

• 'hoànhthánh'
• 'xôinước'
• 'vịtinh'

Even the 1979 border conflict and subsequent anti-Chinese policies did not halt the influx of contemporary Chinese vocabulary into the Sinitic-Vietnamese stock. Historically, such borrowing has occurred not only in daily life but also within literary circles. Many academic terms now in common use were first popularized by scholars in poetry and literary clubs. These words often originated from Sino-Vietnamese readings of Middle Chinese or Tang-era pronunciations and were later localized with poetic nuance. Examples include:

• 'bângkhuâng' (彷徨 pánghuáng, 'melancholy')
• 'ngỡngàng' (驚愕 jīng’è, 'stupefied')
• 'bỡngỡ' (彆扭 biènǐu, 'ill at ease')

Many modern Sinitic-Vietnamese words used in everyday conversation may have first been spoken by scholars, mandarins, Chinese immigrants, or soldiers; they passed on to local wives and children (see King, 1969).

In recent decades, similar transmission has occurred through Vietnamese brides who married Taiwanese husbands and gradually adopted their spouses’ language.

New Chinese loanwords have also entered Vietnamese through popular media, especially from television drama series. Examples include:

• 'bảotrọng' (保重 bǎozhòng, 'take care')
• 'traođổi' (交待 jiāodài, 'exchange words')
• 'soáica' (帥哥 shuàigē, 'handsome man')
• 'mỹnam' (美男 měinán, 'handsome man')
• 'namthần' (男神 nánshén, 'Mr Perfect')
• 'bảomẫu' (保姆 bǎomǔ, 'nanny')
• 'thịphạm' (示範 shìfàn, 'demonstration')
• 'đạocụ' (道具 dàojù, 'stage props')

The widespread presence of Sino-Vietnamese words in daily speech suggests that Mandarin may once have functioned as a lingua franca during centuries of Chinese rule. Over time, its vernacular forms diverged from scholarly usage. Eventually, Sino-Vietnamese pronunciations were codified into Nôm script following strict phonological rules. These formal terms later entered spoken language, a process by which the literati first "released" the forms and the general population adopted them. Examples include:

• 'vuachúa' (主王 zhǔwáng, 'monarch')
• 'ôngchủ' (主公 zhǔgōng, 'master')
• 'đitiền' (隨錢 suíqián, 'give money gift')
• 'thửlàm' (示範 shìfàn, 'try doing')

In contrast, modern scholarly terms currently in use include:

• 'quânvương' (君王 jūnwáng, 'king')
• 'sínhlễ' (聘禮 pìnlǐ, 'marital betrothal')
• 'thịphạm' (示範 shìfàn, 'demonstration')
• 'cườngđiệu' (強調 qiángdiào, 'emphasize')
• 'phấnkhởi' (奮激 fènjī, VS vs. SV 'phấnkích', 'excited')
• 'khủng' ('extremely', clipping from 'khủngkhiếp' 驚恐 jīngkǒng, SV kinhkhủng, 'terrifying')

These examples show that Sinitic-Vietnamese vocabulary rooted in historical phonology and enriched by literary tradition continues to evolve and remains deeply embedded in everyday language.

B. Newly coined words with Chinese material

Many newly coined Vietnamese terms, like variant loans from earlier periods, are original innovations derived from Chinese linguistic material. Often, these words emerged from vernacular usage of scholarly forms or were locally created expressions that evolved through similar processes seen in Japanese. In fact, Japanese has produced a far greater number of neologisms written in its own adapted Chinese characters. Likewise, contemporary Sinitic-Vietnamese terms have been shaped by popular usage, with new words introduced to express modern concepts originally found in Chinese vocabulary. These terms may gain traction and enter official use – appearing in media, literature, or education – once the public adopts the most widely accepted alternatives. This pattern is evident in modern technological vocabulary, for example:

• 'kíchhoạt' (擊活 jīhuó, 'activate') vs. 'bấmchuột' (按鼠 ànshǔ, 'mouse click')
• 'máyđiệntoán' (電算機 diànsuànjī, 'computer') vs. 'máyvitính' (薇算機 wēisuànjī, 'micro computer')
• 'truycập' (追及 zhuījí, 'access') vs. 'tìmkiếm' (搜索 sòusuǒ, 'search')

In such cases, even literate native Chinese speakers may struggle to understand Vietnamese adaptations of Chinese terms, both in spoken and written form. Historically, Chinese scholars have borrowed conceptually Westernized terms created by Japanese intellectuals, but rarely from Vietnamese-Chinese sources. 

In efforts to reduce illiteracy among rural populations, Chinese reformers went so far as to incorporate vernacular speech into written literary language. Meanwhile, Vietnamese scholars remain uniquely capable of composing Tang-style rhythmic poetry using the modern Romanized script, Quốc ngữ, maintaining a literary tradition that echoes the classical past. However, the academic reach of this tradition has its limits.

C. Classical Chinese and the Sinitic–Vietnamese lexicon

In the present era, classical Chinese writing, known as 'wenyanwen' (文言文), as found in texts like the 'Analects' (論語), the 'Annals of the Three Kingdoms' (三國誌), and similar works, is characterized by its concise and compact structure. This density often leads to ambiguity, posing significant challenges for Vietnamese philologists attempting to interpret ancient Chinese texts. Nonetheless, these works preserve phonological clues to archaic Vietnamese etyma, both pre- and post-Sinitic contact. For instance, the ancestral Vietnamese forms of 'lạc' (雒), 'hùng' (雄), and 'hồng' (鴻) – as in 'Hồngbàng', 'Hùngvương', and 'Lạcvương' – may have been mis-transcribed in Middle Chinese, raising questions about their original sound values.

Consider also the lexical pairs:

• 'lúa' (來 lái, 'paddy') vs. 'gạo' (稻 dào, 'rice')
• 'cơm' (餐 cān, 'meal') vs. 'bữa' (飯 fàn, 'cooked rice')

The first pair derives from distinct roots, while the second reflects semantic shifts that produced separate concepts in Vietnamese. Archaic forms of these words appear in Old Chinese rhyme books and dialectal records. For example, 飯 (fàn, 'meal') is pronounced /buj/ in Hainanese, alongside bữa as in bữaăn 'meal', which may correspond to buổi 'time period'. Today, these roots are accessed primarily through annotated Chinese texts transcribed into Quốcngữ, limiting their utility for historical analysis. As a result, many local scholars struggle to trace the phonological and semantic relationships among forms like 'buj', bữa, and buổi, though for trained linguists these should pose no difficulty.

While average Chinese readers may find classical wenyanwen difficult, they readily understand vernacular baihua (白話) novels from the Ming onward. Vietnamese readers share this experience. Works such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義), Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢), and the martial arts novels of Jin Yong (金庸) are often translated into Vietnamese with near word‑for‑word correspondence, demonstrating deep linguistic and cultural resonance between the two traditions. (See modern word-by-word matching and sing-along Vietnamese–Chinese Translation in Music: A Study of Lyric Adaptation.)

Historically, the vocabularies of each language have continued to evolve independently, even after Chinese loanwords were absorbed into Vietnamese. Over time, new developments in the donor language may have been reintroduced into Vietnamese, often in modified or locally adapted forms. These innovations reflect both phonological shifts and semantic reinterpretations, e.g., 'giỏi' vs. 'tài' 才 cái (talent), or 'lam' vs. 'chàm' for 藍 lán (indigo), etc. Such pairs illustrate how Vietnamese has not only borrowed but also reshaped Chinese lexical material, creating distinct expressions that reflect native usage and cultural context.

D) Vietnamese scholarship and literary continuity

Long after Vietnam gained independence, scholars continued to devote attention to Confucian texts and participated in the development of late Sino‑Vietnamese literature, much of it composed in classical Chinese style. Not every author remained aligned with Confucian orthodoxy, but many drew inspiration from its legacy. The influence of Nguyễn Du – widely regarded as Vietnam’s Shakespeare—can be seen in the word choices and stylistic elements adopted by later writers. These features expanded the semantic range of vocabulary and, under French grammatical influence, contributed to generative structures that reshaped Vietnamese syntax. This marked a departure from the older, more circuitous style of expression in both speech and writing.

In antiquity, formal education in both China and Vietnam was limited to the affluent or exceptionally gifted. Only a few individuals rose to prominence as scholars, as evidenced by the small corpus of surviving work. For the average educated person—village teachers, civil servants—their linguistic influence on communities was substantial. Sound changes from Chinese into Sinitic–Vietnamese often appear irregular, shaped by limited literacy and imperfect imitation, especially among children of Chinese immigrants and native Vietnamese mothers (see King, 1969). These circumstances produced widespread mispronunciation and adaptation of Chinese loanwords in everyday speech. In short, both highly literate and minimally literate groups played formative roles in shaping the lexicon.

E. French and English loanwords as comparison

French influence offers a useful parallel. During roughly a century of colonial rule, about 400 French terms entered Vietnamese, most rarely used (see Cao Xuân Hạo, 2001). These were adapted through phonemic reshaping, syllabic restructuring, and tonal adjustment. Pronunciation diverged significantly from the originals, reflecting Vietnamese phonological habits. This differs from Sino‑Vietnamese and Sinitic‑Vietnamese models, which involved systematic phonetic shifts within a tonal framework. Later, English loanwords followed a similar but slower path.

Phonemically, French and English loans entered through irregular syllabization shaped by synchronic adaptation, contrasting with the diachronic transformations of Sinitic–Vietnamese vocabulary. The latter follows historical phonological shifts, while the former reflects immediate, speaker‑driven adjustments. (See What Makes Chinese So Vietnamese - Appendix A)

Phonemically, both French and English loanwords have entered Vietnamese through a process of syllabization that often appears irregular and fragmented. These patterns, shaped by synchronic adaptation, contrast sharply with the more systematic diachronic transformations observed in the evolution from Sinitic to Sinitic-Vietnamese vocabulary. While the latter follows historical phonological shifts over time, the former reflects immediate, speaker-driven adjustments to foreign sounds.

French-Vietnamese interchanges underwent similar processes, often echoing the patterns of syllabization and vocalization found in Chinese-Vietnamese adaptations. These included the restructuring of complex initial clusters and the omission of certain phonemes, for instance:

• 'cờlê' from French 'clé' (key, or wrench) reflects syllabization of the initial consonant
• 'cômlê' from French 'complet' (suit) shows the dropping of the medial consonant

These changes resemble the omission of the aspirated [h-] in French 'trône' compared to English 'throne'. Such synchronic developments, though seemingly unpredictable, reveal underlying tendencies in how foreign words are naturalized into Vietnamese. By studying these patterns, historical linguists may derive useful models to apply retrospectively to older Sinitic-Vietnamese cases.

F. Irregular sound change phenomena

In the case of Sinitic-Vietnamese, specialists in Vietnamese phonology continue to grapple with irregular sound change phenomena, both from Chinese into Vietnamese and, occasionally, in reverse. order These include the simplification and vocalization of consonantal clusters. For example:

• 'blau' > 'trầu' > 檳榔 bīnláng (areca nut)
• 'tráicây' > 水果 shuǐguǒ (fruit)
• 'củtỏi' < 蒜頭 suàntóu (garlic bulb)
• 'contrâu' > 頭牛 tóuníu (a cow, in VS it means ' a buffalo')

On a related note, if early proto-Vietic forms included consonantal clusters such as /bl-/, we might reconstruct examples like:

• 'blời' evolving into 'trời' (sun or sky)
• 'blăng' becoming 'trăng' (moon)

These hypothetical reconstructions suggest that native phonological processes – alongside foreign influence – have played a role in shaping Vietnamese vocabulary over time. (X)

In a manner comparable to Old Chinese during the Western Han period, Vietnamese also underwent syllabization of complex consonantal clusters. These clusters were not only simplified but also tonalized. It is likely that the postulated three to four tones were embedded in each loanword; without them, the words would have sounded flat and monotonous, similar to Chinese loanwords in Khmer, Japanese, or Korean. Consider the Vietnamese 'khủnglong' (dinosaur), derived from 恐龍 kǒnglóng, which may trace back to a Proto-Chinese form *klong, later reinterpreted as 'conrồng' (dragon) or 'thuồngluồng' (水龍 shuǐlóng, water snake). Another example is 'lúagạo' (rice), which may derive from Old Chinese *gləwʔ, the etymon behind 稻 (dào). This root gave rise to both 'lúa' (paddy) and 'gạo' (rice), possibly a fission from */gl-/ and */g(li)-/ respectively, rather than the archaic '來 lái', which was originally associated with 'millet'.

The generalization of this syllabizing process suggests the formation of dissyllabic Vietnamese lexicons with morphosyllable switched in reverse order, including basic vocabulary where each of it begins with a consonant. Examples include:

• 'cùichỏ' (手肘 shǒuzhǒu, 'elbow')
• 'bảvai' (肩膀 jiānbǎng, 'shoulder')
• 'đầugối' (膝頭 xītóu, 'knee')
• 'màngtang' (太陽穴 tàiyángxué, 'temples')

These forms in their core evolved from monosyllabic roots that were gradually disyllabized, independent of the same process of the borrowing language, each replacing complex clusters with simpler consonants and diphthongs. For instance:

• 'blời' > 'mặttrời' > 'trời' > 'giời' (sun)
• 'blăng' > 'mặttrăng' > 'trăng' > 'giăng' (moon)

The diphthongs and triphthongs in 'giời', 'giăng', and 'nguyệt' align with the [Consonant + Vowel] structure seen in Mandarin equivalents like 日 rì (sun) and 月 yuè (moon) of the same etymology. Their Middle Chinese forms correspond to the Sino-Vietnamese 'nhật' and 'nguyệt' while VS 'giời' and 'giăng' are widely recognized as closer to modern Mandarin than Middle Chinese.

Historically, as the Annamese state expanded southward into Hàtĩnh Province during the 11th century, it absorbed territory from the ancient Kingdom of Champa. This expansion brought about racial admixture and linguistic contact with Chamic-speaking populations. Bilabial glides such as /bl-/ and /pl-/ entered Annamese through this interaction, contributing to forms like:

• 'mặtgiời' > 'mặttrời' > /blời/ (sun)
• 'mặtgiăng' > 'mặttrăng' > /blăng/ (moon)

These forms, where /b-/ replaces 'mặt', are documented in Alexandre de Rhodes’s Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (Rome, 1651). The influence of these indigenous phonological features persists today. For example, soft palatalization in northern Vietnamese dialects – often due to Chinese influence – results in hard consonants:

• 'chuyện' (傳 zhuàn) vs. 'truyện' (story)
• 'giời' (天 Tiān) vs. 'trời' (heaven)
• 'nớ' (那 nà, 'that') vs. 'đó' (there)
• 'môtê' (彼此 bǐ​cǐ, 'whereabout') vs. 'rirứa' (here and there), etc.

Regarding the development of dissyllabicity and tonality, ancient Vietic likely transformed its complex clusters into simpler forms while simultaneously acquiring tonal distinctions. As Haudricourt proposed, endings such as /-s/ or /-ʔ/ may have triggered tonal differentiation, but that is only the story of tonogenesis in general. Tonality in both Chinese and Annamese evolved in parallel, becoming increasingly sophisticated. This development is evident in the emergence of eight or nine tones in dialects like Cantonese, which preserved features of Middle Chinese, the court language of the Tang Dynasty.

During the Tang Dynasty, Japanese and Korean scholars made concerted efforts to incorporate Middle Chinese vocabulary into their respective languages. Despite the passage of many centuries, these borrowed terms remain toneless, as neither Japanese nor Korean possesses a tonal system akin to that of Chinese.

By contrast, Vietnamese maintained active and sustained contact with Chinese throughout its history. Given this deep linguistic interaction, it is implausible to suggest that Vietnamese only completed its tonal development as late as the 12th century. The emergence of tones in Vietnamese likely occurred much earlier, shaped by centuries of exposure to tonal Chinese dialects and reinforced through cultural and administrative exchanges during periods of Chinese rule.

In fact, contrary to Henri Maspero’s hypothesis that Vietnamese tonality emerged after the 12th century, evidence suggests that tones were already present well before that; otherwise, the sound changes must have gone a different path to compensate for the loss of tonality. It would be implausible for fundamental dissyllabic words to remain toneless, especially when compared to Japanese Kanji or Korean Hanja, which often lack tonal contrast. Japanese, for instance, adapted Chinese words through disyllabization and simplification:

• 'mit' > 'mitsu'
• 'tong' > 'toyo'
• 'king' > 'kyo'

A similar process of phonological transformation occurred within Chinese itself as it evolved into modern Mandarin. Scholars have referred to this phenomenon as "Tartarization" – a simplification of phonological features influenced by Altaic languages spoken by the Tartars, Mongols, Manchurians, and their Jurchen ancestors. Over the course of nearly a thousand years of northern rule, Mandarin underwent significant changes: final consonants such as -p, -t, -k, and -m were lost, and the tonal system was reduced from eight tones, as found in Middle Chinese, to the four tones of modern Mandarin.

This historical trajectory helps explain the linguistic and ethnic distinctions between northern and southern Chinese populations. In particular, Beijing’s demographic composition was shaped by centuries of Manchurian influence. Well into the early 1980s, much of the city’s population traced its ancestry to Manchurian settlers, while others were considered outsiders – underscored by the fact that obtaining residency in the capital was notoriously difficult, often compared to securing a U.S. green card.

VII) Dialectal similarities as historical proof, not coincidence

Today, Mandarin as spoken in Beijing has become the national standard, and all Chinese citizens are required to learn it. This linguistic centralization, often described as a legacy of "Manchurianization," reflects both historical and political forces that have shaped language policy in modern China.

Vietnamese tonogenesis can be traced to Old Chinese origins for two principal reasons. First, many Vietnamese etyma appear in Sino-Tibetan etymological frameworks and are cognate with ancient Chinese words that exhibit tonal distinctions. Second, the tonal system in Vietnamese continued to evolve throughout the millennium of Chinese rule from the era of Ancient Chinese through Middle Chinese, eventually stabilizing into a system of six tones in regional dialects such as Hàtĩnh, Quảngbình, Quảngtrị, and Huế. By the 10th century. not the 12th century, so to speak, Vietnamese had likely completed its tonal development, forming eight tones across two registers, heavily influenced by Middle Chinese as preserved in Cantonese, which itself descends from Tang-era court speech. 

An early form of colloquial Cantonese, known as 白話 Baihua, was spoken in present-day Guangxi Province and among the Kinh ethnic minority in southern China. It is highly plausible that General Ngô Quyền, who later became King of ĐạiViệt, used this dialect to communicate with his subordinates and subjects in the Annam Prefecture. At that time, the people of Annam may have spoken a form of Annamese already embedded with the eight tonal equivalents of Middle Chinese. These tonal features have remained integral to Vietnamese for over a millennium, and preserved in what older Cantonese speakers refer to as "Tang Spracht" (唐話 /Tong4waa6-2/) as well   – compared to Mandarin and Vietnamese today.

A. Layered origins of Sinitic-Vietnamese vocabulary

It is clear that many Sinitic–Vietnamese etyma, particularly those rooted in Old Chinese, predate their more formal Sino‑Vietnamese counterparts. Both sets of vocabulary remain actively used across domains of life, often carrying comparable semantic weight. Some disyllabic forms appear to have been coined by native Vietnamese speakers even before the influx of Middle Chinese loanwords, for example:

• yênbình, bìnhyên, and bằngan all convey the meaning of 'peace', corresponding to 平安 (píng'ān, SV bìnhan).

The historical name Annam (安南 Ānnán), derived from the Tang Dynasty’s designation 安南都府 (Ānnán Dūfǔ, 'Annam Protectorate'), remained in use until 1945. Notably, the form yênnam never existed, whereas Núi Yêntử corresponds to 安子山 (Ānzǐshān, 'Mount Yentu'), not Núi Antử.

This distinction suggests that yên /jen/ (from Old Chinese */qa:n/) represents an older stratum than an /ʔɑn/ (from Tang‑era /ʔɒn/). The contrast highlights the layered history of tonal and phonological development in Vietnamese, where archaic forms coexist with later Sino‑Vietnamese adaptations.

Let us now examine further examples of Sinitic-Vietnamese words derived from Old or Middle Chinese forms that later evolved into what are considered native Vietnamese expressions – or 'Nôm' words – through processes of localization and semantic adaptation.

B. Nucleus shifts, tone evolution, consonant simplification, and semantic layering

1. Kinship and family terms

Sinitic- Vietnamese	Sino‑ Vietnamese	Chinese root	Gloss	Phonological Notes
cha, tía	SV đa	爹 diē < MC da < OC *daːʔ	'father'	OC daːʔ → MC da → SV đa; VS cha shows palatalization and vowel fronting
bố	SV phụ	父 fù < MC pio < OC paʔ	'father'	OC paʔ → MC pio → SV phụ; VS bố reflects bilabial onset simplification
mẹ, mợ, mẫu	SV mẫu	母 mǔ < MC məw < OC mɯʔ	'mother'	OC mɯʔ → MC məw → SV mẫu; VS mẹ shows vowel lowering and tone shift
nạ, nàng, nương	SV nương	娘 niáng < MC naŋ < OC nraŋ	'lady, mother'	OC nraŋ cluster simplified to MC naŋ; VS nạ retains nasal nucleus

     2. Agriculture and food

Sinitic- Vietnamese	Sino‑ Vietnamese	Chinese root	Gloss	Phonological Notes
lúa, gạo	SV đạo	稻 dào < MC daw < OC gləwʔ	'paddy, rice'	OC /gl‑/ cluster split: VS lúa (liquid onset) vs. gạo (velar onset); SV đạo reflects MC daw
bữa, buổi	SV phạn	飯 fàn < MC bwan < OC bonʔ	'meal, time'	OC bonʔ → MC bwan; VS bữa shows vowel centralization; buổi semantic shift to 'time period'
chè, trà	SV trà	茶 chá < MC ɖaɨ < OC rlaː	'tea, sweet soup'	OC rlaː → MC ɖaɨ → SV trà; VS chè shows palatalization and semantic extension
bụt, Phật	SV Phật	佛 Fó < MC but < OC bɯd	'Buddha'	OC bɯd → MC but → SV Phật; VS bụt preserves bilabial onset and short vowel

    2. Titles and social roles

Sinitic- Vietnamese	Sino‑ Vietnamese	Chinese root	Gloss	Phonological Notes
vua, vương	SV vương	王 wáng < MC ɦuaŋ < OC ɢʷaŋ	'king, lord'	OC ɢʷaŋ → MC ɦuaŋ → SV vương; VS vua shows glide loss and vowel fronting
ông, công, cồ	SV công	公 gōng < MC kəwŋ < OC klo:ŋ	'mister, baron'	OC klo:ŋ → MC kəwŋ → SV công; VS ông shows nasalization and vowel reduction
thầy, sư	SV sư	師 shī < MC ʂji < OC sri	'teacher, abbot'	OC sri → MC ʂji → SV sư; VS thầy shows consonant shift and semantic broadening

    3. Lexicon and abstract concepts

Sinitic- Vietnamese	Sino‑ Vietnamese	Chinese root	Gloss	Phonological Notes
lời, từ	SV từ	辭 cí < MC zjɤ < OC lhjə	'word, lexicon'	OC lhjə → MC zjɤ → SV từ; VS lời shows lateral onset simplification
lẽ, lý, lo	SV lý	理 lǐ < MC lɨ < OC rɯʔ	'reason, manage'	OC rɯʔ → MC lɨ → SV lý; VS lẽ shows vowel lowering and tone divergence
việc, hoạt	SV hoạt	活 huó < MC kwat < OC ko:d	'work'	OC ko:d → MC kwat → SV hoạt; VS việc shows labial onset innovation
tìm, tầm	SV tầm	尋 xún < MC tsjim < OC ljum	'search'	OC ljum → MC tsjim → SV tầm; VS tìm shows palatal simplification

    4. Actions and objects

Sinitic- Vietnamese	Sino‑ Vietnamese	Chinese root	Gloss	Phonological Notes
đánh, đả	SV đả	打 dă < MC tiɛŋ < OC ta	'strike, fight'	OC ta → MC tiɛŋ → SV đả; VS đánh shows palatalization and nasal coda
rương, hòm, sương	SV sương	箱 xiāng < MC sɨəŋ < OC slaŋ	'box, suitcase'	OC slaŋ → MC sɨəŋ → SV sương; VS rương shows rhotic onset innovation

Several of the etyma mentioned above merit further elaboration (see Figure 1), though a full discussion would exceed the scope of this section. In many instances, readers are encouraged to accept certain etyma at face value, such as 飯 fàn, rendered in Sino-Vietnamese as 'phạn', and in vernacular Vietnamese as 'bữa' (meal). The term 'bữa' has extended beyond its original meaning to encompass broader temporal concepts – morning, noon, evening – effectively serving as a semantic umbrella for expressions like 'ban-' or 'buổi-', both denoting segments of the day.

It is worth noting that in both Chinese and Vietnamese cultural contexts, the concept of a meal has long held social significance. Even today, rather than greeting someone with phrases like "Good morning" or "Good afternoon", it is common to ask "Have you eaten yet?", "Have you had lunch?", or "Have you had dinner?" – a practice that reflects the centrality of food in daily life and interpersonal interaction.

To illustrate the semantic expansion of 'bữa', we may posit the vernacular prefix 'ban-' as a marker of time during the day, as seen in expressions such as:

• 'banmai' (early morning)
• 'bantrưa' (midday)
• 'banchiều' (late afternoon)
• 'banđêm' (nighttime)

These examples show how a lexical item originally tied to sustenance evolved into a broader temporal classifier, demonstrating the dynamic interplay between cultural practice and linguistic development.

• bantrưa (noon time) [ Also, 'bữatrưa', 'buổitrưa'; SV bạchtrú | M 白晝 báizhòu (daytime) / 白 bái ~ 'ban' @ 飯 fàn SV 'phạn'; hence, 'ban' ~> 'bữa' ~> 'buổi' | ¶ /-an ~ -a, -wôi/, Ex. 蒜 suàn (SV toán) VS 'tỏi' (garlic), cf. Hainanese /bwoj1/ | M 白 bái, bó, bà, băi, zì < MC baɨjk < OC *bra:g || M 晝 zhòu (trú, trứu) < MC ʈuw < OC *tus | Pulleyblank: LMC triw < EMC: *trow ],
• banngày (daytime) [ SV bạchnhật | M 白日 báirì | M 日 rì, mì < MC ȵit < OC *njiɡ ]

In Vietnamese "ban-", a morphosyllable used as prefix and a semantic marker to indicate a period during the day, as in "banngày" or "banđêm" (night time), might have been derived from, interestingly enough:

• ban: 飯 fàn [ SV phạn, VS 'ban', 'bữa' | M 飯 fàn < MC bwan, bʷiɐn < OC *bonʔ, *bons | Dialect: Hai. /bwəj1/, cf. VS 'buổi' | Guangyun: 飯 fàn (1) Guangyun: (1) 飯 飯 扶晚 並 元合 阮 上聲 三等 合口 元 臻 上二十阮 bʱi̯wɐn bĭwɐn biuɐn biuɐn bʉɐn bʷiɐn buan fan4 byanx bvaan 餐飯禮云三飯是扶晩切又扶万切四 , (2) 飯 飯 符万 並 元合 願 去聲 三等 合口 元 臻 去二十五願 bʱi̯wɐn bĭwɐn biuɐn biuɐn bʉɐn bʷiɐn buan fan4 byanh bvann 周書云黃帝始炊榖爲飯符方切六 | Dialects: Cant. faan6, Hak fan5, Hai. /bwəj2/, Tchiewchow /beng2/ | According to Starostin: eat; meal; give to eat (LZ). Also read *banʔ-s, MC bw@\n, Pek. fa\n 'cooked rice or millet'. For *b- cf. Xiamen pŋ6, Chaozhou pu6, Fuzhou puo6, Jianou puiŋ6. | Note: 'meal' for 'bữa' ~> 'ban', cf. 'bữacóbữakhông', 'ăn bữatrưa lo bữatối', Vietnamese idioms, literally meaning 'make do with or without meals' and 'having something to eat for lunch but worrying about food for the dinner', respectively ]

and then the concept is further extended and associated with 'banngày' for what it happens to be '白 bái' in Chinese as in 白日 báirì [ Ex. 白日 báirì \ 白 bái ~ 'ban' @ 飯 fàn, cf. 白天 báitiān ~ VS 'buổisáng'. See "banmai" 平明 píngmíng SV 'bìnhminh' (dawn) ].

Similarly, the same notion of "ban-" is further spilled out to permeate to other disyllabic words, such as

• 晚間 wănjiān (night time) for "banđêm" [ hence, 'banhôm' (evening). See "bantối" 半夜 bànyè (midnight) | M 晚間 wănjiān \ 晚 wăn ~ 'ban-' 飯 fàn \ /w- ~ b-/; \ 間 jiān ~ '+đêm' @ 宵 xiāo \ ¶ /j- ~ đ-/ ]

In effect, the Vietnamese term "ban" does not derive from 白 bái (white) or 晚 wǎn (evening), and "đêm" is unlikely to originate from 間 jiān (interval), but more plausibly from 宵 xiāo (SV 'tiêu', meaning 'night' or 'evening'). These are examples of lexical association and phonological assimilation. The morpheme /ban-/ may have emerged through a process in which the general populace, particularly the largely illiterate majority, picked up a sound associated with the concept of time, initially linked to "daytime" and "nighttime"  – this is exactly what happened to the conceptual word VS 'không' ('no', 'not', 'none'). Over time, this form was adapted, generalized, and extended to other segments of the day. Through such organic spread and semantic expansion, the morphemic prefix /ban-/ came to denote various periods within the daily cycle. For example,

• "banmai" 平明 píngmíng (dawn) [ SV 'bìnhminh' ~ also, VS 'bansáng' ~ 'buổisáng' / 平 píng ~ 'bằng', 明 míng ~ 'sáng' | cf. 明日 míngrì: 'SV ngàymai' (tomorrow) ],
• "bantrưa" 白晝 báizhòu (day time) [ also, VS 'buổitrưa' (noontime) ],
• "banchiều" 傍晚 bángwăn (dusk) [ also, VS 'buổichiều' and 'chạngvạng' (dusk) ],
• "bantối" 半夜 bànyè (midnight) [ also, 'buổitối', 'banhôm'. See 晚間 wănjiān (night time) for "banđêm". ],

even


• "bannãy" 方才 fāngcái (just) [ also, VS 'mớivừa' (recently) ],

In other words, they all have been a product of association with "ban", "bữa" or "buổi" (cf. 'bữasáng' ('buổisáng'), 'bữatrưa' ('buổitrưa), 'bữachiều' ('buổichiều'), 'bữatối' ('buổitối'), where "bữa-" comes with an implication of meals depending on the context. The same rationalization can be equally applied to

• "banngàybanmặt" (in broad daylight) and "banđêmbanhôm" (in the depth of the night), which are the sound change variants of 青天白日 qīngtiānbáirì (SV 'thanhthiênbạchnhật') and 三更半夜 sāngēngbànyè (VS literally, 'nửađêmcanhba'), respectively.

As we can see by now, the new morphemic prefix 'ban-', unlike its variant 'buổi', or "bữa" (a meal in the day), in all illustrated examples above is elevated to appear only in several dissyllabic formations to denote a certain period of the day. Note something distinctive between 白日 báirì for 'banngày' while 白天 báitiān is postulated for  'buổisáng'.

The case of "ban" ,"bữa" < "buổi" < Minnan 飯: Hainanese "buj2" > Mandarin "fàn" > VS "ban" :

In these specific examples, it is interesting to note that there had existed first the Yue elements and then came the Sinitic, i.e., VS 'buổi' vs. "bữa" ~ 飯 M "fàn" vs. VS "ban", as attested by a MinNan subdialect, Hainanese. MinNan is a Fukienese (Amoy 廈門 Xiàmén) dialect in which the Ancient Chinese vocabulary stock supposedly to enter MinYue (閩越) State during the Han Dynasty. Again, the Han racial stock was composed partly of subjects of the Chu State, descents of Taic speakers that gave rise to the hundreds of Yue tribes. If someone wants to rebut my postulation of "ban-" here but they would better offer some other etyma to fit in then. Do not just destroy but not reconstruct.

      The term "ban" likely emerged later than "buổi" and "bữa" as a lexical innovation to express segmental divisions of time. It came to be used in combination with temporal adverbs to form expressions denoting specific periods of the day. The emergence of "ban-" may be understood in relation to older monosyllabic forms such as "ngày" (day) and "đêm" (night), regardless of whether these derive from Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer roots or from Chinese equivalents – rì 日 (SV 'nhật') for 'day' and xiāo 宵 (SV 'tiêu', VS 'tối') for 'night'. The etymology of "ngày" and "đêm" remains a separate issue to be addressed elsewhere.

This trajectory of development, particularly the localization of "ban-" in relation to the etymon 飯 fàn, which corresponds to VS 'buổi' (/bwoj3/, Hainanese /bwəj2/) and ultimately to VS 'bữa', reflects a process of semantic elevation. The original meaning – centered on the concept of a meal – was abstracted and generalized to encompass broader temporal categories.

In later stages of lexical evolution, phonological restructuring led to the disyllabization of homonymous monosyllabic words, a process that gained momentum during the Tang Dynasty. This phenomenon involved active disyllabization and semantic synchronization, often resulting in metathesis or syntactic reversal in Sinitic-Vietnamese compounds, for example:

• 擔保 dànbǎo → SV 'đảmbảo' vs. VS 'bảođảm' (guarantee)
• 鬥爭 dòuzhēng → SV 'đấutranh' vs. VS 'tranhđấu' (struggle)

These patterns will be examined in greater detail in an article detailing the commonalities between Mandarin and Vietnamese.

Despite the challenges in pinpointing the precise origins of terms like "ban", the sound changes within the Sinitic-Vietnamese domain – especially those affecting core vocabulary – are notable for their diversity and irregularity. These changes occurred synchronically, as evidenced by matched Hainanese variants, and are not always traceable to the diachronic pathways of formal Sino-Vietnamese derivation.

On the surface, Chinese and Vietnamese cognates may appear similar in their modern Romanized forms, namely, Chinese pinyin and Vietnamese Quốcngữ, often sounding acoustically close. However, each may have evolved independently from distinct dialectal sources across different regions and historical periods. These lexical doublets, though varied in form, share common genetic roots and reflect the deep historical and linguistic affiliation between the two languages.

Conclusion

The survey of Sinitic–Vietnamese forms demonstrates that what appear today as "native" Vietnamese words often trace their lineage to Old and Middle Chinese roots, reshaped through centuries of localization, semantic adaptation, and phonological layering. These etyma coexist with their more formal Sino‑Vietnamese counterparts, forming a dual lexicon that permeates every domain of life, from kinship and agriculture to abstract reasoning and literary expression.

This layered vocabulary is not merely a record of borrowing; it is evidence of sustained cultural and linguistic dialogue. The coexistence of lúa and gạo, mẹ and mẫu, ông and công, illustrates how Vietnamese speakers continuously re‑cast Chinese inputs into vernacular molds, producing forms that are both familiar and distinct. Such processes underscore the resilience of Vietnamese linguistic identity while revealing the deep imprint of Yue and Sinitic traditions.

Looking forward, a natural extension of this inquiry is a comparative study of Vietnamese and Mandarin commonalities. By juxtaposing everyday Vietnamese expressions with their Mandarin parallels – whether in kinship terms, food vocabulary, or idiomatic structures – we can highlight not only shared etyma but also divergent semantic pathways. This comparanda will illuminate how two languages, long intertwined yet independently evolving, continue to echo one another in sound, meaning, and cultural resonance.

References

1. Haudricourt, André‑Georges (1954). De l’origine des tons en vietnamien. Journal Asiatique, 242: 69–82. – Foundational study on tonogenesis, crucial for explaining irregular sound changes in Sinitic–Vietnamese.
2. Schuessler, Axel (2007). ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese. University of Hawai‘i Press. – Provides reconstructions of Old Chinese consonantal clusters (e.g., /gl‑/) relevant to forms like lúa and gạo.
3. Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (1991). Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation in Early Middle Chinese, Late Middle Chinese, and Early Mandarin. University of British Columbia Press. – Essential for tracing Middle Chinese inputs into Sino‑Vietnamese vocabulary.
4. Mei, Tsu‑Lin (1970). Tones and Prosody in Middle Chinese and the Origin of the Rising Tone. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 30(1): 86–110. – Useful for contextualizing tonal evolution in Vietnamese comparanda.
5. Cao Xuân Hạo (2001). Tiếng Việt – mấy vấn đề ngữ âm, ngữ pháp, ngữ nghĩa. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Giáo dục. – Discusses French loanwords and contrasts them with Sino‑Vietnamese adaptation.
6. Ferlus, Michel (1992). L’origine du ton B du vietnamien. Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale, 21(1): 111–123. – Explains irregular sound change phenomena and cluster simplification.
7. Norman, Jerry (1988). Chinese. Cambridge University Press. – Provides a broad overview of Chinese dialectal variation, including Cantonese and Mandarin comparanda.
8. King, Robert D. (1969). Historical Linguistics and Generative Grammar. Prentice Hall. – Cited for the role of literacy and imperfect imitation in shaping irregular loanword adaptation.

FOOTNOTES

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(1)^ Actually in any languages it should have started with simple consonantal initials first, so we are talking about that of the Vietic language at a certain stage that might have been under some aboriginal language influences already) — postulated as pre-requisites to change into tonality by Henri Maspero (1945). Alternatively, it is also suggested that, highly, the clusters /bl-/ as in /blời/, blau/, could have deep roots in Chamic, an Austronesian language.