kì cục

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

• kỳ cục

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 奇 (“wonderful, strange”) and 局 (“bent, crooked”), Literally, “novel and tricky”. Often used with a homonym from 棋局 (qíjú, “arrangement of pieces on a chessboard”) to form kì cục kì cục (棋局奇局) (novel and tricky moves). As this word traveled to the South, where the original meaning is not well-understood, people associated it with a negative connotation.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ki˨˩ kʊwk͡p̚˧˨ʔ]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kɪj˦˩ kʊwk͡p̚˨˩ʔ]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [kɪj˨˩ kʊwk͡p̚˨˩˨]

Verb

kì cục

1. (colloquial) to work or toil (at something); to do something painstakingly

Adjective

kì cục

1. (Southern Vietnam, colloquial) strange; odd; weird