CS Knowledge Base

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [vɔ˨˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [vɔ˦˩]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [vɔ˨˩] ~ [jɔ˨˩]

From Proto-Vietic *vɔː. Alves (2023) proposes that this is a non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 盂 (SV: vu).^[1]

vò • (盂, 圩) (classifier cái)

1. jar (pot used to contain liquid)
   • 1957, Đoàn Giỏi, chapter 9, in Đất rừng phương Nam, Kim Đồng:

     Bỗng nó đặt vò nước xuống, thúc vào lưng tôi.

     Suddenly he put the water jar down and gave me a shove in the back.

Cognate with vo.

vò • (扜, 趶, 紆)

1. to crumple up
2. to make into a ball

Inside Vietnamese, cognate with tò vò & bò in bò vẽ (“lesser banded wasp”).

Outside Vietnamese, resemblance to Chut /vɔːvɔː/ may be just coincidental as vò’s doublets suggest ancestral pre-initial and initial *t-b-, from earlier *s-b-.

vò • (圩, 虶, 𧋂)

1. (obsolete) wasp
   • (Can we date this quote?), 里巷歌謠 [Lý hạng ca dao, Folk ballads from the hamlets and alleys]‎^[2], page 29a:

     𥚇虶毒𬨨𡳪螉
     吹𠊛散合𢴑𢚸義仁

     Lưỡi vò độc quá đuôi ong.
     Xui người tan hợp, dứt lòng nghĩa nhân.

     The wasp’s tongue is even more venomous than the bee's tail,
     Stirring folks into breaking harmony and cutting the affectional bonds of duty and humanity.