bông

• (Thạch An – Tràng Định) IPA^(key): [ɓəwŋ͡m˧˥]
• (Trùng Khánh) IPA^(key): [ɓəwŋ͡m˦]

From Vietnamese bông.

(classifier coóc) bông (𱣩)

1. cotton

   Synonym: mèn

   Phên phà bông hún ún.

   The cotton blanket is warm.

bông

1. unkempt; uncombed

   hua bông, chảu nhoa̱i ― messy head and unkempt hair

2. (of food or dirt) friable

   Thúa kheo khủa bông.

   Green beans are boiled then roasted to the point of being friable.

• tôm bông

Possibly related to poòng, pổng.

bông

1. to swell; to expand

   Cáy khôn bông.

   The chicken's feathers swelled.

   Khẩu sluy bông.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

• bông ban

• Lương Bèn (2011) Từ điển Tày-Việt [Tay-Vietnamese dictionary]‎^[1][2] (in Vietnamese), Thái Nguyên: Nhà Xuất bản Đại học Thái Nguyên
• Lục Văn Pảo, Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003) Hoàng Triều Ân, editor, Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày [A Dictionary of (chữ) Nôm Tày]‎^[3] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học Xã hội
• Léopold Michel Cadière (1910) Dictionnaire Tày-Annamite-Français [Tày-Vietnamese-French Dictionary]‎^[4] (in French), Hanoi: Impressions d'Extrême-Orient

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

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

• Audio (Saigon):

  (file)

From Proto-Vietic *poːŋ (“flower”). Cognate with Muong pông and Thavung โปง.

This word had been tentatively proposed as being connected etymologically with Hmong-Mien (Proto-Hmong-Mien *bi̯aŋ, whence Iu Mien biangh, White Hmong paj) or Austronesian (Proto-Austronesian *buŋa, whence Malay bunga etc.) (for examples, Hsiu, 2017; H. Hayes, 1999, Hoàng Thị Châu, 2009). Ratliff (2017) connected the Hmong-Mien and Austronesian terms, but did not mention any Austroasiatic comparanda. In any case, the connection is not certain and might just be look-alikes.

bông • (芃, 葻, 𥟌, 𣒾, 𣜳)

1. (Central Vietnam, Southern Vietnam) bloom; flower

   Synonym: hoa

2. cotton

   gấu bông ― a cotton-stuffed bear

bông • (芃, 葻)

1. Indicates flowers.

   Synonym: đoá

• Although bông in the sense of "flower" has mostly been displaced by hoa in the Northern dialects, lúa (“rice plant”) is an exception in that it is most often only accompanied by bông (i.e. bông lúa, lúa trổ bông, etc.) and not hoa, regardless of the dialect.

Borrowed from French bon.

bông

1. (dated) coupon; voucher; bond; proof