máy

Cognate with Muong Bi bẳl (as in bẳl măt (“to blink”), equivalent to Vietnamese máy mắt).

Originally a verb meaning "to move, to touch". This meaning can still be seen in the t- reduplicative táy máy and the -âp reduplicative mấp máy, as well as some compounds like mó máy and the aforementioned máy mắt.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [maj˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [maj˨˩˦]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ma(ː)j˦˥]

• Audio (Hồ Chí Minh City)

  (file)

máy • (𢵯, 𣛠, 𠃅)

1. (no longer used in isolation) to move around
2. (no longer used in isolation) to touch and feel
   • 1914, Nam quốc phương ngôn tục ngữ bị lục (南國方言俗語備錄):

     𠁀𧍆𧍆𢵯𠁀𧑂𧑂陶

     Đời cua cua máy, đời cáy cáy đào.

     A big crab's life just fiddling with its surroundings, a small crab's life is just digging.

(classifier cái, cỗ) máy • (𢵯, 𣛠, 𠃅)

1. (obsolete) effect; mechanism
   • 18th century, Nguyễn Gia Thiều (阮嘉韶) (1741-1798), Cung oán ngâm khúc (宮怨吟曲), Phú Văn đường tàng (富文堂藏), printed in 1866 edition:

     箕世局如印聀梦
     𠃅玄微𨷑㨂坤量

     Kìa thế cục như in giấc mộng,
     Máy huyền vi mở đóng khôn lường.

     See, how my situation is as if it's a dream,
     The mysterious way that things move, constantly changing and unpredictable.

2. machine
3. engine
4. internal combustion engine
5. (colloquial) phone, mobile phone

   nhấc máy ― to pick up the phone

• The classifier cỗ (“< a set of dishes in a feast”) seems to be mostly used in translation and the phrase cỗ máy appears to be quite lexicalized to the extent that its usage resembles that of a compound.