giai

See also: giải

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

(coastal Northern Vietnam, likely obsolete) lai
(originally Central Vietnam, Southern Vietnam, now widespread) trai

Etymology

See trai. The sound change from *p-l and *b-l to ‹gi-› is a regular sound change in Northern Vietnamese; compare giồng, giầu, giời, giăng, gio, giả, giở, giun, gióng, giái. The inland dialects seem to have undergone this shift more thoroughly (although not completely), with the coastal Northern dialects being much more diverse in their treatment of *C-l- cluster.

This is one of several dialectal features of Northern Vietnamese that are quickly disappearing (especially in urban areas) due to dialect leveling, being replaced by the modern standard written forms of Southern origin. Among words with ‹gi-› onset originated from labial-lateral clusters, only giai, giời and a few words that originated from the Northern region but have become "standard" or "co-standard" in written language (like giun and giở) seem to be holding out among younger generations.

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [zaːj˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [jaːj˧˧]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [jaːj˧˧]

Noun

giai • (𪟦, 𫦻)

Northern Vietnam form of trai (“boys and men; male”)

Derived terms

Romanization

giai

Sino-Vietnamese reading of 階 (“rank or step; stairs”)
Sino-Vietnamese reading of 佳 (“excellent”)