chuột bạch

Vietnamese

Etymology

chuột (“mouse, rat”) +‎ bạch (“white”), calque of Chinese 白鼠 (bạch thử). Chinese 白 (“white”) was likely not translated to trắng in order to indicate that the compound refers specifically white laboratory mouse and not just any white mouse or rat.

Pronunciation

  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [t͡ɕuət̚˧˨ʔ ʔɓajk̟̚˧˨ʔ]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [t͡ɕuək̚˨˩ʔ ʔɓat̚˨˩ʔ]
  • (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [cuək̚˨˩˨ ʔɓat̚˨˩˨]

Noun

(classifier con) chuột bạch

  1. a white mouse, especially a white laboratory mouse
  2. (figuratively) a guinea pig; a lab rat (living experimental subject)
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