Definition

1. Proper noun:
   • The Viet ethnic group: The majority ethnic group of Vietnam, also known as the Kinh people, constituting approximately 87% of the country's population. The term refers to the people, their culture, and their historical development.
   • Viet (as a name element): A component in historical and cultural terms related to Vietnam, such as in "Việt Nam" (Vietnam).

Usage Examples

• Proper noun:
  • Người Việt có truyền thống trồng lúa nước lâu đời. (The Viet people have a long tradition of wet rice cultivation.)
  • Văn hóa Việt rất phong phú và đa dạng. (Viet culture is very rich and diverse.)
  • Đây là một phong tục cổ truyền của dân tộc Việt. (This is a traditional custom of the Viet ethnic group.)

Advanced Usage

• "Người Việt": This is the most common and standard term to refer to an ethnic Viet person or the Viet people collectively.
  • Người Việt sống ở nhiều nơi trên thế giới. (Ethnic Vietnamese people live in many places around the world.)
• "Tiếng Việt": Refers to the Vietnamese language, which is the language of the Viet (Kinh) people.
  • Tiếng Việt là ngôn ngữ chính thức của Việt Nam. (Vietnamese is the official language of Vietnam.)

Variants and Related Words

• Việt Nam (Proper noun): The country of Vietnam. "Việt" here is a core element of the national name.
• Người Kinh (Noun phrase): An alternative, official name for the Viet ethnic group, meaning "Kinh people." It is synonymous with "người Việt."
  • Dân tộc Kinh và dân tộc Việt là một. (The Kinh ethnic group and the Viet ethnic group are one.)
• Việt kiều (Noun): Overseas Vietnamese. Refers to people of Vietnamese origin living abroad.
  • Cộng đồng Việt kiều đóng góp nhiều cho quê hương. (The overseas Vietnamese community contributes a lot to the homeland.)

Synonyms

• Kinh: The official ethnic designation, used interchangeably with "Việt" in an ethnic context.
  • Dân tộc Kinh/Việt (The Kinh/Viet ethnic group)

Notes on Meaning

• Ethnic vs. National: "Việt" primarily denotes the majority ethnic group. The national citizenry of Vietnam includes many ethnic groups, not just the Viet (Kinh). Therefore, "người Việt Nam" (Vietnamese citizen/national) has a broader, civic meaning than "người Việt" (ethnic Vietnamese person).
  • Anh ấy là người Việt Nam, nhưng là người dân tộc H'Mông. (He is a Vietnamese citizen, but is of the H'Mong ethnicity.)
• Historical Context: The term "Việt" has deep historical roots, originating from the ancient Baiyue (Bách Việt) peoples of southern China and northern Vietnam. It is central to Vietnamese identity and history.

1. Việt ethnic group occupies 87% of the Vietnamese population. From the first residential area in Hồng (Red River), Cả and Mã basin, they gradually advanced southwards together with other ethnic groups. The concentration was noticeable in the deltas from lower section of Red River, Coastal Centre to lower section of Mekong River. Việt's residential sphere spread uninterruptedly from the Ngọc cape to Hà Tiên where the continental and oceanic ecological environments met each other The society was tightly organized in form of hamlets, villages, communes and townlets. Each village was a factor maintaining the traditional social structure of the Việt ethnic group and where small trade, agricultural and handicraft production took place. Its familiar landscapes resided in rice-fields, gardens, ponds, breeding and handicraft occupations Linguistically, there was the transition from Chinese language to nôm language, then to quốc ngữ (national language) with Latin-based letters in the late 19th century