kim chỉ nam

Vietnamese

Etymology

kim (“needle”) +‎ chỉ (“to point at”) +‎ nam (“south”), calque of Chinese 指南針 (chỉ nam châm, “compass”, literally “southward needle”)

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kim˧˧ t͡ɕi˧˩ naːm˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [kim˧˧ t͡ɕɪj˧˨ naːm˧˧]
(Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [kim˧˧ cɪj˨˩˦ naːm˧˧]

Noun

kim chỉ nam

(formal, especially communism) guidance; a beacon

See also

nam châm

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.