cơm

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *kəːm (“cooked rice”); cognate with Arem kʌːm. According to Ferlus, a loan from Chinese 泔 (OC *kaːm, “water from washing rice; kitchen slops”) (SV: cam), although the vowels are difficult to match.^[1]

Semantically, compare Thai ข้าว (kâao, “rice; meal”), Khmer បាយ (baay, “rice; meal”), Chinese 飯 / 饭 (fàn, “rice; meal”), Korean 밥 (bap, “rice; meal”), Japanese ご飯 (gohan, “rice; meal”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kəːm˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kəːm˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [kəːm˧˧]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

Noun

cơm • (粓, 𩚵)

1. cooked non-glutinous rice
2. a rice meal

   ăn cơm ― to eat rice; to have a rice meal, optionally with meat, fish, soup, among other foods

   • (Can we date this quote?), Sa Huỳnh (lyrics and music), “Về ăn cơm [Come Home for Lunch]”:

     Sáng sớm, đi bắt cua đồng, đi thả diều,
     Huýt sáo nô đùa bên đám bạn nơi lũy tre, chơi trốn tìm.
     Khói bếp cay mắt mẹ già bên bếp lò.
     Cơm nấu xong rồi ! Mấy đứa về ăn (bữa) cơm !

     Early in the morning, we'd go catch some field crabs, fly some kites,
     Whistle and goof with our friends around bamboo groves, play hide and seek.
     Smoke from the fireplace'd irritate our old mom's eyes.
     The rice is done! Y'all come home for lunch!

3. (of fruit, especially coconuts) meat; flesh

Adjective

cơm

1. (of fruit) tasteless (not sour, or only slightly sweet)

Verb

cơm

1. (slang) to walk away with; to steal

References