đám

See also: Appendix:Variations of "dam"

Vietnamese

Etymology

Cognate with Arem dæːmˀ.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɗaːm˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɗaːm˦˧˥]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʔɗaːm˦˥]

Noun

đám • (坫, 盎)

1. cluster, heap
   • 18th–19th century, Hồ Xuân Hương (胡春香), “Vịnh ốc nhồi (詠屋𧋆)”, in John Balaban, transl., Spring Essence: The Poetry of Hồ Xuân Hương, Copper Canyon Press (book), also hosted by Nôm Foundation (online), published 2000:

     博媄生𫥨分屋𧋆
     𣎀𣈜粦𨀎盎𦹵灰

     Bác mẹ sinh ra phận ốc nhồi,
     Đêm ngày lăn lóc đám cỏ hôi

     Fate and my parents shaped me like a snail,
     day and night wandering marsh weeds that smell foul.

2. crowd, throng, gathering

Derived terms

Derived terms

• đám bạc
• đám chay
• đám cháy
• đám cưới
• đám đông
• đám hỏi
• đám ma
• đám rước
• đám tang
• đám tiệc
• đám xá
• đình đám
• nhà đám
• phá đám
• rã đám

 

Classifier

đám • (坫, 盎)

1. Indicates things with the form of a cluster

Graphical notes

• The Nôm character 盎 was originally used as a phonogram meant to be read as áng. Because áng and đám are/were semantically similar (both are still the modern classifiers for mây (“cloud”)), 盎 became a semantogram used to write đám. For example, the place name "Xuân Đám" in Bắc Giang was spelled as 春盎 on 春盎社亭碑 (Xuân Đám xã đình bi, 1720).