Kẻ Chợ

 

The demotic name (tên Nôm) for the city, from kẻ (“person; nominalizer”) +‎ chợ (“market”), roughly "market place". At first, the name refers to the residential area in Đông Kinh, as opposed to the Imperial Citadel. It was then used to refer to the whole of Đông Kinh.

The name is used since the Later Lê dynasty by both locals and foreigners.^[1]

This placename was once used as a common noun, meaning "capital", see kẻ chợ.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kɛ˧˩ t͡ɕəː˧˨ʔ]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kɛ˧˨ t͡ɕəː˨˩ʔ]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [kɛ˨˩˦ cəː˨˩˨]

Kẻ Chợ • (仉𢄂)

1. (historical) Hanoi

• → Muong: Ké Chỡ
  • → Muong: Chỡ (“Vietnamese”)
• → Portuguese: Cachao