Definition

Noun: 1. Patella, kneecap, kneepan: The small, flat, triangular bone at the front of the knee joint. 2. (In some regional dialects, especially Northern Vietnam) A type of sweet dessert soup: This meaning is distinct and refers to a food item, not the anatomical part.

Usage Examples

• Anatomical meaning:
  • Sau cú ngã, anh ấy bị đau ở bánh chè. (After the fall, he felt pain in his kneecap.)
  • Chấn thương bánh chè có thể ảnh hưởng đến việc đi lại. (A patella injury can affect walking.)
• Culinary meaning (regional):
  • Ở Hà Nội, bánh chè là một món ăn vặt ngọt làm từ đậu. (In Hanoi, "bánh chè" is a sweet snack made from beans.)

Advanced Usage

• "Xương bánh chè": This is a more precise anatomical term, literally "kneecap bone," and is synonymous with the primary definition.
  • Bác sĩ chụp X-quang xương bánh chè của tôi. (The doctor took an X-ray of my kneecap bone.)

Variants and Related Words

• Đầu gối (noun): Knee. This is the general term for the whole knee joint, which includes the .
• Khớp gối (noun): Knee joint.

Synonyms

• Patella (Medical/Latin term)
• Kneecap
• Kneepan (Less common)

Important Note on Meaning

This word is a homonym. Its meaning depends entirely on context: 1. In standard Vietnamese and anatomical/medical contexts, it exclusively means patella/kneecap. 2. In certain regional dialects (primarily Northern Vietnam) as a food term, it refers to a sweet dessert. To avoid confusion in general communication, the anatomical meaning is considered the primary definition. The food item is more commonly and unambiguously called "chè".

noun

1. Patella, knee-cap, knee-pan