Reduplicative words in Vietnamese
In this post, Tiengviet24h will introduce to you: Reduplicative words in Vietnamese. Let’s start!
What are reduplicative words?
– Reduplicative words are words composed of two words that have the same syllable, rhyme or syllable and rhyme. Words making up reduplicative words may have meaning or may not.
– Example: chạng vạng (twilight), cặm cụi (to be completely wrapped up in some work), dễ dãi (easy-going), dần dần (gradually), càu nhàu (to grumble), bơ vơ (lonely), dong dỏng (spindly), dửng dưng (indifferent), chậm chạp (slow), chằm chằm (fixedly), chênh vênh (tottery), bẽn lẽn (bashful), gấp gáp (urgent), chong chóng (pinwheel), chuồn chuồn (dragonfly),…
Classification
Full reduplication
– Words making up fully reduplicated words have the same syllable and rhyme. In some cases, the tones or the final consonants can be different.
– Example: ào ào (impetuous), rưng rưng (to have tears welling up), thoang thoảng (faint), rơm rớm (to begin to be moist with), luôn luôn (always), thăm thẳm (abysmal), lanh lảnh (brassy), xanh xanh (greenish), tim tím (purplish), hằm hằm (angry), ngoan ngoãn (obedient), đăm đăm (fixedly), cỏn con (trivial), đời đời (eternally), cào cào (grig), canh cánh (haunting),…
– Make sentences with fully reduplicated words:
+ Nghe đến đây, ai nấy cũng đều rơm rớm nước mắt.
Hearing this, tears well up in everyone’s eyes.
+ Cậu ta bước vào phòng với khuôn mặt hằm hằm.
He walked into the room with an angry face.
+ Con bé rất ngoan ngoãn và hiền lành, thế nên ai cũng yêu quý con bé.
She is very obedient and gentle, so everyone loves her.
Partial reduplication
– Words making up partially reduplicated words have the same first consonant or rhyme. Partially reduplicated words are usually divided into two categories: repeating first consonant and repeating rhyme.
– Example:
+ Repeating first consonant: dằng dặc (endless), mếu máo (whining), nức nở (to sob), rón rén (to walk on tiptoe), rực rỡ (bright), dè dặt (cautious), cứng cỏi (strong-minded), chín chắn (mature), đày đọa (to ill-treat), dụ dỗ (to entice), dùng dằng (undecided), dễ dàng (easy), dính dáng (involved),…
+ Repeating rhyme: liêu xiêu (precarious), cằn nhằn (to grumble), bủn rủn (flaccid), càu nhàu (to grumble), bùi ngùi (melancholy), cộc lốc (curt), chới với (to reach up one’s hands repeatedly), bứt rứt (uneasy), bờm xờm (shaggy), bỡ ngỡ (to be new to the surrounding), bộp chộp (hot-headed), bồn chồn (fevered), bầy hầy (dirty),…
– Make sentences with partially reduplicated words:
+ Cần phải suy nghĩ chín chắn trước khi đưa ra quyết định.
You need to think carefully before making a decision.
+ Câu đố này quá dễ dàng với cậu ấy.
This quiz is too easy for him to solve.
+ Cô ấy suốt ngày chỉ biết cằn nhằn.
She grumbles all day long.
+ Mọi người vừa rời khỏi là cô ấy liền bật khóc nức nở.
When everyone left, she burst into tears.
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