bông

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

• Audio (Hồ Chí Minh City)

  (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