gòn
Each syllable carries one of six tones; the mark on the vowel tells you which. How the six tones sound →
gòn means ceiba; cotton pad.
Meanings of gòn in English
Noun
- ceiba ≈ bông gòn
- cotton pad
Historical script (chữ Nôm / Hán)
Before the Latin alphabet (chữ Quốc ngữ) became standard, gòn could be written as 棍. Today Vietnamese is written only in the Latin alphabet.
Etymology
Unclear. The word is not Sino-Vietnamese and ⟨g/gh⟩ is also not a possible initial in Sino-Vietnamese proper, therefore the word might be either native, a vernacular Sinitic loan (either from a regional Sinitic language or is an early, pre-Middle Chinese loan), or a loan from another neighboring language. The Nôm character 棍, as with many other cases, is merely a character formed by phono-semantic matching.
Frequently asked questions
What does gòn mean in English?
gòn (noun) means "ceiba; cotton pad".
How do you pronounce gòn?
IPA: Hanoi [ɣɔn˨˩]; Saigon [ɣɔŋ˨˩]. Tones: gòn — falling tone (huyền).
What classifier is used with gòn?
Common classifiers: cây, bông — for example "một cây gòn" (one ceiba).