hồ Hoàn Kiếm

Vietnamese

Etymology

hồ (“lake”) +‎ hoàn (“to return”) +‎ kiếm (“sword”), from the legend in which Lê Lợi returned the sword he borrowed from the Golden Turtle God after defeating Ming invaders. The turtle god is, of course, fictional, but there is an actual symbolic turtle in the lake.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ho˨˩ hwaːn˨˩ kiəm˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [how˦˩ hwaːŋ˦˩ kiəm˦˧˥]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [how˨˩ waːŋ˨˩ kim˦˥]

Proper noun

hồ Hoàn Kiếm

1. Hoàn Kiếm Lake (in Hanoi, Vietnam)

   Synonym: Hồ Gươm