đá

See also: đà, đã, đả, and Appendix:Variations of "da"

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɗaː˧˦]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɗaː˨˩˦]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɗaː˦˥]
Audio (Hà Nội): (file)

Etymology 1

From Proto-Vietic *l-taːʔ (“rock”). Cognate with Arem atæːˀ.

Schuessler (2007) claims that this Vietic word and Khmer ដា (daa) might be related to Chinese 石 (OC *dAk) (B-S) (SV: thạch). However, this is unlikely due to both

the mismatch between final *-k and *-ʔ (unless Chinese added "the familiar final -k" after foreign *-ʔ, resulting in *-ʔ-k > *-k; for an analogy, Chinese 汝 (OC *naʔ) > Chinese 若 (OC *nak))
and the fact the Khmer word is likely borrowed from Vietnamese or another Vietic language instead of inheriting from a common source.

Noun

(classifier tảng, hòn, viên, cục) đá • (𥒥, 坧)

rock, stone
(by extension) ice as used for consumption or refrigeration
(slang) meth, methamphetamine

Usage notes

tảng is often used to refer to big rocks, viên to small stones, hòn to mid-sized or small stones/rocks. cục is the colloquial classifier, used for stones and rocks of all sizes, although usually on the smaller side.
the above "rule" is not always followed.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Proto-Vietic *taʔ. Cognate with Arem tʌːˀ.

Verb

đá • (打, 跢)

to kick
đòn đá ― a kick

cú đá ― a kick

các đòn đá taekwondo ― taekwondo kicks
(colloquial, slang) to dump (one's girlfriend, boyfriend, etc.); to abandon
(Southern Vietnam) to fight each other
(Southern Vietnam) to go; to come by
(Northern Vietnam) to eat or drink