máy
See also: Appendix:Variations of "may"
Vietnamese
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Cognate with Muong Bi bẳl (as in bẳl măt (“to blink”), equivalent to Vietnamese máy mắt).
Originally a verb meaning "to move, to touch". This meaning can still be seen in the t- reduplicative táy máy and the -âp reduplicative mấp máy, as well as some compounds like mó máy and the aforementioned máy mắt.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [maj˧˦]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [maj˨˩˦]
- (Saigon) IPA(key): [ma(ː)j˦˥]
Audio (Saigon): (file)
Verb
[edit]- (no longer used in isolation) to move around
- (no longer used in isolation) to touch and feel
- 1914, Nam quốc phương ngôn tục ngữ bị lục (南國方言俗語備錄):
- 𠁀𧍆𧍆𢵯𠁀𧑂𧑂陶
- Đời cua cua máy, đời cáy cáy đào.
- A big crab's life just fiddling with its surroundings, a small crab's life is just digging.
Noun
[edit](classifier cái, cỗ) máy • (𢵯, 𣛠, 𠃅)
- (obsolete) effect; mechanism
- 18th century, Nguyễn Gia Thiều (阮嘉韶) (1741-1798), Cung oán ngâm khúc (宮怨吟曲), Phú Văn đường tàng (富文堂藏), printed in 1866 edition:
- 箕世局如印聀梦
𠃅玄微𨷑㨂坤量- Kìa thế cục như in giấc mộng,
Máy huyền vi mở đóng khôn lường. - See, how my situation is as if it's a dream,
The mysterious way that things move, constantly changing and unpredictable.
- Kìa thế cục như in giấc mộng,
- machine
- engine
- internal combustion engine
- (colloquial) phone, mobile phone
- nhấc máy ― to pick up the phone
Usage notes
[edit]- The classifier cỗ (“< a set of dishes in a feast”) seems to be mostly used in translation and the phrase cỗ máy appears to be quite lexicalized to the extent that its usage resembles that of a compound.
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- → Bahnar: kơmăi
Categories:
- Vietnamese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Vietnamese terms with audio pronunciation
- Vietnamese lemmas
- Vietnamese verbs
- Vietnamese terms with quotations
- Vietnamese nouns classified by cái
- Vietnamese nouns classified by cỗ
- Vietnamese nouns
- Vietnamese terms with obsolete senses
- Vietnamese colloquialisms
- Vietnamese terms with usage examples