lằng
Vietnamese
Etymology
From Proto-Vietic *-laŋ (“bluebottle fly”); non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 蠅 (SV: dăng). Cognate with Chut [Rục] məlaŋ¹.
This is an example of a Sinitic loanword borrowed at the stage when the shift *m-r- > *m-l- already happened. Compare lẽ (“reason”) < Middle Vietnamese mlẽ, from Chinese 理 (phonetic 里 (OC *m(ə).rəʔ)).
Pronunciation
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [laŋ˨˩]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [laŋ˦˩]
- (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [laŋ˨˩]
Noun
lằng
- Lucilia sericata, common green bottle fly
- Synonyms: ruồi lằng, lằng xanh, nhặng xanh