bể dâu
See also: bedau
Vietnamese
Alternative forms
- dâu bể
Etymology
Short for bãi bể nương dâu. From a Chinese myth in which a goddess said she'd seen the sea turned into mulberry fields multiple times. The notion of 滄海桑田/沧海桑田 (cānghǎisāngtián, “the blue sea and the mulberry fields”) are consolidated in Vietnamese as a compound of bể (“sea”) + dâu (“mulberry”).
Pronunciation
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ʔɓe˧˩ zəw˧˧]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [ʔɓej˧˨ jəw˧˧]
- (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [ʔɓej˨˩˦ jəw˧˧]
Noun
- (rare, poetic) all the vicissitudes of human life
- Synonym: thăng trầm
- 1820, Nguyễn Du (阮攸), Đoạn trường tân thanh (Truyện Kiều), published 1866, lines 3–4:
𣦆 戈 没 局 𣷭 橷 仍 調 𬖉 𧡊 㐌 𤴬 疸 𢚸 - A turbulent mulberry-field-covered-by-sea period had passed.
The things that we saw still deeply pain our hearts.
- A turbulent mulberry-field-covered-by-sea period had passed.
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