Definition

1. Noun:
   • Square glutinous rice cake: A traditional Vietnamese food made from glutinous rice, mung bean paste, and fatty pork, wrapped in lá dong (phrynium leaves) into a square shape and boiled for many hours.
   • A traditional Tet food: "Bánh chưng" is an essential, symbolic food prepared and consumed during the Vietnamese Lunar New Year (Tết Nguyên Đán).

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Gia đình tôi cùng nhau gói bánh chưng mỗi dịp Tết. (My family wraps bánh chưng together every Tet holiday.)
  • Mùi bánh chưng nấu chín là mùi đặc trưng của Tết cổ truyền. (The smell of cooked bánh chưng is the distinctive scent of the traditional Tet.)
  • Bánh chưng thường được cắt thành từng miếng nhỏ và ăn kèm với dưa hành. (Bánh chưng is usually cut into small pieces and eaten with pickled onions.)

Advanced Usage

• "gói bánh chưng": the act of wrapping . This phrase describes the traditional preparation process.
  • Công đoạn gói bánh chưng đòi hỏi sự khéo léo. (The process of wrapping bánh chưng requires skill.)
• "luộc bánh chưng": the act of boiling .
  • Bánh chưng phải được luộc trong nồi to suốt nhiều giờ liền. (Bánh chưng must be boiled in a large pot for many consecutive hours.)

Variants and Related Words

• Bánh tét (noun): A cylindrical glutinous rice cake, similar in ingredients to but with a different shape, more common in Central and Southern Vietnam.
• Bánh dày (noun): A round, white, flat glutinous rice cake, often paired with symbolizing the sky and earth.
• Lá dong (noun): The specific type of leaf (phrynium or arrowroot leaf) used to wrap .

Synonyms

• Traditional square rice cake: A descriptive synonym in English.
• Tet cake: A simple, contextual synonym referring to its association with the holiday.

Related Phrases

• "bánh chưng xanh": This phrase literally means "green bánh chưng," referring to the green color the leaves impart on the outer layer of rice after boiling.
  • Trên bàn thờ ngày Tết không thể thiếu bánh chưng xanh. (The ancestral altar during Tet cannot lack the green bánh chưng.)
• "cặp bánh chưng bánh dày": Refers to the pair of and , representing the earth (square) and sky (round) in Vietnamese legend.
  • Truyền thuyết về Lang Liêu giải thích nguồn gốc của cặp bánh chưng bánh dày. (The legend of Lang Liêu explains the origin of the pair of bánh chưng and bánh dày.)

Related Idioms

• "No bánh chưng không phải là Tết": (No , no Tet). This idiom emphasizes the indispensable role of in the Tet celebration.
  • Ông bà ta thường nói "no bánh chưng không phải là Tết". (Our elders often say, "no bánh chưng, no Tet.")

noun

1. Square glutinous rice cake (filled with green bean paste and fat pork)
   • gói bánh Chưng