ba-lông
Definition
- Noun:
- Balloon: A flexible bag designed to be inflated with gas (such as helium or air), often used for decoration, celebration, or as a toy.
- Ball: (Archaic) A large ball, especially one used in sports. This meaning is now considered outdated.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Trẻ em thích thổi ba-lông. (Children like to blow up balloons.)
- Cô ấy buộc một dải ruy-băng vào quả ba-lông. (She tied a ribbon to the balloon.)
- (Archaic) Họ chơi với một quả ba-lông lớn trên bãi biển. (They played with a large ball on the beach.)
Advanced Usage
- "bong bóng ba-lông": balloon (often specifying the toy/decoration type).
- Cửa hàng bán đủ loại bong bóng ba-lông. (The store sells all kinds of balloons.)
Variants and Related Words
- Bong bóng: This is the more common modern Vietnamese word for "balloon." "Ba-lông" is a dated loanword.
- Khí cầu: Refers to a hot-air balloon or airship (a much larger, manned balloon).
Synonyms
- Bong bóng (n): balloon.
- Quả bóng (n): ball (the modern and standard term for a sports ball).
Notes on Usage
- The word "ba-lông" is a phonetic borrowing from the French word "ballon".
- In contemporary Vietnamese, it is considered archaic. The word "bong bóng" is universally used for "balloon," and "quả bóng" is used for "ball."
- You may encounter "ba-lông" in older texts or in very specific, fixed phrases, but for modern communication, "bong bóng" and "quả bóng" are recommended.