chẳng

Originally the chief negator in earlier stages of Vietnamese; this usage as the neutral negator was replaced by không, but chẳng and other negators are still widely used in many situations. Cognate with Muong chăng, Nguôn chẳng. Compare Thai ช่าง (châang), Lao ຊ່າງ (sāng, “to not care”). See also chăng and chả.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕaŋ˧˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕaŋ˧˨]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [caŋ˨˩˦]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

chẳng • (庄, 拯, 庒, 極, 丕, 丞)

1. not at all

   Chẳng biết. ― No idea.

2. even if not

   Chẳng chua, nhưng vẫn có thể là chanh.

   Even if it isn’t sour, it could still be a lemon.

3. if not
4. there is not

• (not at all): đâu, không, chả, đếch (vulgar), đách (vulgar), đéo (vulgar), cóc, ứ

• "chẳng" in Hồ Ngọc Đức, Free Vietnamese Dictionary Project (details)
• Lê Sơn Thanh, "Nom-Viet.dat", WinVNKey (details)