Chữ Hán

The main Vietnamese term used for Chinese characters is {{lang|vi|chữ Hán}} ({{Vi-nom|𡨸漢}}). It is made of {{lang|vi|chữ}} meaning 'character' and {{lang|vi|Hán}} 'Han (referring to the Han dynasty)'. Other synonyms of {{lang|vi|chữ Hán}} includes {{lang|vi|chữ Nho}} ({{Vi-nom|𡨸儒}} {{IPA|vi|t͡ɕɨ˦ˀ˥ ɲɔ˧˧|}}, literally 'Confucian characters') and {{lang|vi|Hán tự}}{{Efn|Hán tự is an uncommon term for Chinese characters. In late 19th-early 20th century and modern-day Vietnamese, chữ Hán, along with chữ Nho and chữ Tàu, have been the dominant terms for "Chinese characters". Hán tự started being used due to its perceived archaism and its formality.}} ({{Vi-nom|漢字}} {{IPA|vi|haːn˧˦ tɨ˧˨ʔ||LL-Q9199 (vie)-Penn Zero MSSJ-Hán tự.wav}}) which was borrowed directly from Chinese.

{{lang|vi|Chữ Nho}} was first mentioned in Phạm Đình Hổ's essay, Vũ trung tùy bút ({{Vi-nom|雨中隨筆}} {{lit|Essays in the Rain}}) where it initially described a calligraphic style of writing Chinese characters.{{Cite journal |last1=Nguyễn |first1=Tuấn Cường |last2=Bùi |first2=Anh Chưởng |date=October 11, 2020 |title=The Chinese script, Confucian script, and Nôm script: Some reflections on writing and politics in monarchical Vietnam |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/2513850220952175 |journal=Journal of Chinese Writing Systems |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=149|doi=10.1177/2513850220952175 }} Over time, however, the term evolved and broadened in scope, eventually coming to refer to the Chinese script in general. This meaning came from the viewpoint that the script belonged to followers of Confucianism. This is further shown with Neo-Confucianism becoming the state ideology of the Lê dynasty.{{Cite journal |last=Trịnh |first=Ngọc Linh |date=30 September 2023 |title=Confucianism in Vietnam: A Hauntology-based Analysis of Political Discourse |url=https://doi.org/10.25050/JDTREA.2023.3.1.87 |journal=Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia |volume=3 |issue=1|pages=87–108 |doi=10.25050/JDTREA.2023.3.1.87 |doi-access=free }}

Classical Chinese is referred to as {{lang|vi|Hán văn}} ({{Vi-nom|漢文}} {{IPA|vi|haːn˧˦ van˧˧|}}) and {{lang|vi|văn ngôn}} ({{Vi-nom|文言}} {{IPA|vi|van˧˧ ŋon˧˧|}}).{{Cite book |last=Hoàng |first=Phê |title=Từ điển tiếng Việt |date=2003 |publisher=Đà Nẵng Publishing House |pages=1101 |language=vi |quote=văn ngôn d. Ngôn ngữ sách vở, dựa trên tiếng Hán cổ, thông dụng ở Trung Quốc trước cuộc vận động Ngũ Tứ (1919); đối lập với bạch thoại.}}

File:嶺南摭怪列傳.jpg ({{Vi-nom|嶺南摭怪}}) is a 14th-century Vietnamese semi-fictional work written in chữ Hán by Trần Thế Pháp.]]

File:越南亡國史.jpg ({{Vi-nom|越南亡國史}}), is a Vietnamese book written in chữ Hán, written by Phan Bội Châu while he was in Japan. It was published by Liang Qichao, a leading Chinese nationalist revolutionary scholar then in Japan]]

After the conquest of Nanyue (Vietnamese: Nam Việt; chữ Hán: {{Vi-nom|南越}}), parts of modern-day Northern Vietnam were incorporated into the Jiāozhǐ province (Vietnamese: {{langr|vi|Giao Chỉ}}; {{langr|vi|chữ Hán}}: {{Vi-nom|交趾}}) of the Han dynasty. It was during this era, that the Red River Delta was under direct Chinese rule for about a millennium. Around this time, Chinese characters became widespread in northern Vietnam. Government documents, literature, and religious texts such as Buddhist sutras were all written in Literary Chinese (Vietnamese: Hán văn; chữ Hán: {{Vi-nom|漢文}}).{{Cite book |last=Handel |first=Zev |title=Sinography: The Borrowing and Adaptation of the Chinese Script |publisher=BRILL |year=2019 |isbn=9789004386327 |pages=125}} From independence from China and onward, Literary Chinese still remained as the official language for writing whether if it was government documents or literature.{{Cite book |last=Handel |first=Zev |title=Sinography: The Borrowing and Adaptation of the Chinese Script |publisher=BRILL |year=2019 |isbn=9789004386327 |pages=126}} Every succeeding dynasty modeled their imperial exams after China's model. Scholars drew lessons from Neo-Confucianism and used its teachings to implement laws in the country. The spread of Confucianism meant the spread of Chinese characters, thus the name for Chinese characters in Vietnamese is called chữ Nho (literally: 'Confucian characters; {{Vi-nom|𡨸儒}}).{{Cite web |last=Li |first=Hanke |date=2022 |title=The Construction of National Identity from the Perspective of the Change of Chinese Status in Vietnamese Language Policy |url=https://en.front-sci.com/index.php/jher/article/view/750/863 |pages=175–176}} Scholars were focused on reading Chinese classics such as the Four Books and Five Classics. While literature in Vietnamese (written with chữ Nôm) was the minority. Literature such as Nam quốc sơn hà (chữ Hán: {{Vi-nom|南國山河}}) and Truyền kỳ mạn lục (chữ Hán: {{Vi-nom|傳奇漫錄}}) being written with Chinese characters. With every new dynasty with the exception of two dynasties,{{Efn|The Hồ dynasty ({{zhi|c=茹胡}}) and the Tây Sơn dynasty ({{zhi|c=茹西山}}) are the only two dynasties that used chữ Nôm officially unlike other dynasties that used Literary Chinese instead.}} Literary Chinese and thus Chinese characters remained in common usage.{{Cn|date=July 2024}}

It was until in the 20th century that Chinese characters alongside chữ Nôm began to fall into disuse. The French Indo-Chinese administration sought to westernise and modernise Vietnam by abolishing the Confucian court examinations. During this time, the French language was used for the administration. The French officials favoured Vietnamese being written in the Vietnamese alphabet. Chinese characters were still being taught in classes (in South Vietnam) up to 1975, but failed to be a part of the new elementary curriculum complied by Ministry of Education and Training after the Vietnam War.{{Cite journal |last=Nguyễn |first=Tuấn Cường |date=7 October 2019 |title=Research of square scripts in Vietnam: An overview and prospects |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2513850219861167 |journal=Journal of Chinese Writing Systems |volume=3 |issue=3 |page=5|doi=10.1177/2513850219861167 |s2cid=211673682 }}File:Clear image of Lệnh thư.jpg script.]]

Today, Chinese characters can still be seen adorned in temples and old buildings. Chữ Hán is now relegated to obscurity and cultural aspects of Vietnam. During Vietnamese festivals, calligraphists will write some couplets written in Chinese characters wishing prosperity and longevity. Calligraphists that are skilled in calligraphy are called ông đồ.{{Cite web |last=Nguyễn |first=Thị Ngà |date=28 January 2022 |title=Đến với bài thơ hay "Ông đồ" của Vũ Đình Liên |url=https://baohungyen.vn/den-voi-bai-tho-hay-ong-do-cua-vu-dinh-lien-22864.html |website=Báo Hưng Yên |language=vi}} This is especially reflected in the poem, Ông đồ, by Vũ Đình Liên. The poem talks about the ông đồ during Tết and how the art of Vietnamese calligraphy is no longer appreciated.

File:Vietnamese calligraphy in Ecopark 2016 01.jpg.]]

In the preface of Khải đồng thuyết ước ({{Vi-nom|啟童說約}}; 1853) written by Phạm Phục Trai ({{Vi-nom|范复齋}}), it has the passage,{{Cite web |last=Nguyễn |first=Tuấn Cường |date=2015 |title=Giáo dục Hán văn bậc tiểu học tại Việt Nam thời xưa qua trường hợp sách Tam tự kinh |url=https://www.academia.edu/25993149 |page=15}}{{Blockquote|text={{lang|lzh|余童年，先君子從俗命之，先讀《三字經》及三皇諸史，次則讀經傳，習時舉業文字，求合場規，取青紫而已}}。{{pb}}Dư đồng niên, tiên quân tử tùng tục mệnh chi, tiên độc “Tam tự kinh” cập Tam Hoàng chư sử, thứ tắc độc kinh truyện, tập thì cử nghiệp văn tự, cầu hợp trường quy, thủ thanh tử nhi dĩ.{{pb}}Tôi hồi tuổi nhỏ nghe các bậc quân tử đời trước theo lệ thường dạy mà dạy bảo, trước hết đọc Tam tự kinh và các sử đời Tam Hoàng, tiếp theo thì đọc kinh truyện, tập lối chữ nghĩa cử nghiệp thời thượng, sao cho hợp trường quy để được làm quan mà thôi.{{pb}}In my childhood, under the guidance of my elders and conforming to the customs, I first studied the "Three Character Classic" and various histories of the Three Emperors. Afterward, I delved into the classics and their commentaries, honing my skills in calligraphy and writing, aiming to conform to the rules of society and attain a respectable status.}}Children around the age of 6–8 begin learning chữ Hán at schools.{{Cite journal |last=Phạm |first=Văn Thịnh |date=February 2024 |title=The Vietnamese education system during the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) - The decline and importance of feudal education for class and national interests |url=https://www.allmultidisciplinaryjournal.com/uploads/archives/20240209174519_A-24-148.1.pdf |journal=International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Growth Evaluation |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=626–634}} Students began by learning characters from books such as [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10099861h/f2 Nhất thiên tự] ({{Vi-nom|一千字}}; 'one thousand characters'), Tam thiên tự ({{Vi-nom|三千字}}; 'three thousand characters'), [https://lib.nomfoundation.org/collection/1/volume/852/ Ngũ thiên tự] ({{Vi-nom|五千字}}; 'five thousand characters'), and the Three Character Classic ({{Vi-nom|三字經}}). The primers were often glossed with chữ Nôm.{{Cite journal |last=Nguyễn |first=Đình Hòa |title=Vietnamese phonology and Graphemic Borrowings from Chinese: The book of 3,000 characters Revisited |url=http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/nguyen1992vietnamese-phonology.pdf |journal=Mon-Khmer Studies}} As such with Nhất thiên tự ({{Vi-nom|一千字}}), it was designed to allow students to make the transition from Vietnamese grammar to Classical Chinese grammar.{{Cite book |last=Woodside |first=Alexander Barton |title=Vietnam and the Chinese Model: A Comparative Study of Vietnamese and Chinese Government in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |year=1971 |edition=1st |pages=192–193}} If students read the Chinese characters only, the words will be in an alternating rhyme of three and four, but if it was read with the chữ Nôm glosses, it would be in the Vietnamese lục bát rhyme. These books gave students a foundation to start learning more difficult texts that involved longer sentences and more difficult grammatical structures in Literary Chinese. Students would study texts such as [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b54100446k/f4.item.r=S%C6%A1%20h%E1%BB%8Dc%20v%E1%BA%A5n%20t%C3%A2n Sơ học vấn tân] ({{Vi-nom|𥘉學問津}}; 'inquiring in elementary studies'), [http://hannom.nlv.gov.vn/hannom/cgi-bin/hannom?a=d&d=BNTwEHieahcPB1863&e=-------vi-20--1--txt-txIN%7CtxME------ Ấu học ngũ ngôn thi] ({{Vi-nom|幼學五言詩}}; 'elementary learning of the five-character verses'), [https://lib.nomfoundation.org/collection/1/volume/1041/ Minh tâm bảo giám] ({{Vi-nom|明心寶鑑}}; 'precious lessons of enlightenment'), and [https://lib.nomfoundation.org/collection/1/volume/831/ Minh Đạo gia huấn] ({{Vi-nom|明道家訓}}; 'precepts of Minh Đạo').{{Cite web |last=Nguyễn |first=Tuấn Cường |date=2015 |title=Giáo dục Hán văn bậc tiểu học tại Việt Nam thời xưa qua trường hợp sách Tam tự kinh |url=https://www.academia.edu/25993149 |page=31}} These books taught the basic sentences necessary to read Literary Chinese and taught core Confucian values and concepts such as filial piety. In Sơ học vấn tân ({{Vi-nom|𥘉學問津}}), it has four character phrases that were divided into three sections, one on Chinese history, then Vietnamese history, and lastly on words of advice on education.

{{multiple image

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| image1 = Thiên Nam tứ tự kinh example.jpg

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| caption1 = Thiên Nam tứ tự kinh ({{Vi-nom|天南四字經}}) is a book that was used to teach children the history of Vietnam. (All of the sentences in the book are in four-character phrases.)

| image2 = 三千字纂要Page1.png

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| caption2 = The first page of Tam thiên tự toản yếu ({{Vi-nom|三千字纂要}}), used to teach children chữ Hán and its equivalent chữ Nôm.

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| image3 = Second page of Tam tự kinh lục bát diễn âm 三字經六八演音.jpg

| caption3 = A page of the Three Character Classic, this version specifically is called Tam tự kinh lục bát diễn âm ({{Vi-nom|三字經六八演音}}). Shown is the original Chinese text above and below is the Vietnamese translation.

}}

During the period of reformed imperial examinations (khoa cử cải lương; {{Vi-nom|科舉改良}}) that took place from 1906 to 1919, there were three grades of education. Students would start learning Chinese characters beginning from the age of 6. The first grade level was called ấu học ({{Vi-nom|幼學}}) (ages 6–12), next was tiểu học ({{Vi-nom|小學}}) (ages under 27), and then finally, trung học ({{Vi-nom|中學}}) (ages under 30).{{Cite web |last=Nguyễn |first=Tuấn Cường |date=2015 |title=Giáo dục Hán văn bậc tiểu học tại Việt Nam thời xưa qua trường hợp sách Tam tự kinh |url=https://www.academia.edu/25993149 |page=30}} Đại học ({{Vi-nom|大學}}) at this time referred to students studying in the national academies.

File:Hán-văn Giáo-khoa thư.png

The education reform by North Vietnam in 1950 eliminated the use of chữ Hán and chữ Nôm.{{Cite web |date=11 April 2009 |title=Ai "bức tử" chữ Hán-Nôm? |url=http://www.vusta.vn/vi/news/Thong-tin-Su-kien-Thanh-tuu-KH-CN/Ai-buc-tu-chu-Han-Nom-31759.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914180432/http://www.vusta.vn/vi/news/Thong-tin-Su-kien-Thanh-tuu-KH-CN/Ai-buc-tu-chu-Han-Nom-31759.html |archive-date=14 September 2016 |website=VUSTA |quote=Đặc biệt đến năm 1950, khi có cải cách giáo dục thì chữ Hán ra rìa hoàn toàn (chúng tôi nhấn-VTK).}} Chinese characters were still taught in schools in South Vietnam until 1975. During those times, the textbooks that were used were mainly derived from colonial textbooks. There were two main textbooks, Hán-văn tân khóa bản ({{Vi-nom|漢文新課本}}; 1973) and Hán-văn giáo-khoa thư ({{Vi-nom|漢文敎科書}}; 1965).{{Efn|Based on the book, Hán-văn tân giáo-khoa thư (1929).}}{{Cite web |last=Trần |first=Văn Chánh |title=Chương trình giáo dục và sách giáo khoa thời Việt Nam Cộng Hòa |url=https://petruskyaus.net/chuong-trinh-giao-duc-va-sach-giao-khoa-thoi-vnch-tran-van-chanh/ |website=Hội Ái Hữu Petrus Trương Vĩnh Ký Úc Châu|date=24 July 2019 }} Students could begin learning Chinese characters in secondary school. The department dealing with Literary Chinese and Chinese characters was called Ban Hán-tự D. Students could either chose to learn a second language such as English and French or choose to learn Literary Chinese. Exams for Literary Chinese mainly tested students on their ability to translate Literary Chinese to Vietnamese. These exams typically took around 2 hours.

{{See also|Địa danh}}

In Vietnam, many provinces and cities have names that come from Sino-Vietnamese words and were written using Chinese characters. This was done because historically the government administration needed to have a way to write down these names, as some native names did not have characters. Even well-known places like Hanoi ({{Vi-nom|河內}}) and Huế ({{Vi-nom|化}}) were written in Chinese characters. Often, villages only had one word names in Vietnamese.{{Cn|date=July 2024}}

Some Sino-Vietnamese names were translated from their original names, like Tam Điệp Quan ({{Vi-nom|三疊關}}) being the Sino-Vietnamese name for Đèo Ba Dội.{{Cn|date=July 2024}}

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| caption1 = The Sino-Vietnamese name for Hanoi written in chữ Hán, Hà Nội {{Vi-nom|河内}}.

| image2 = KẻChợ仉𢄂.png

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| caption2 = The native Vietnamese name for Hanoi written in chữ Nôm, Kẻ Chợ {{Vi-nom|仉𢄂}}.

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Practically all surnames in Vietnamese are Sino-Vietnamese words; they were once written in Chinese characters. Such as common surnames include Nguyễn ({{Vi-nom|阮}}), Trần ({{Vi-nom|陳}}), Lê ({{Vi-nom|黎}}), Lý ({{Vi-nom|李}}), etc.{{Efn|Native names do exist, but are rare. Some examples include Giỏi, Sen, Gái, Nễ, etc.}}

File:Cổng làng Ước Lễ.JPG, can still be seen adorned with Chinese characters. The characters read {{Vi-nom|約禮門}} (Vietnamese: Ước Lễ Môn)]]

File:VietnameseVocabComparsion.png

Owing to historical contact with Chinese characters before the adoption of Chinese characters and how they were adapted into Vietnamese, multiple readings can exist for a single character. While most characters usually have one or two pronunciations, some characters can have up to as many as four pronunciations and more. An example of this would be the character {{Vi-nom|行}} hàng – which could have the readings hàng, hành, hãng, hạng, and hạnh.{{Cite web |title=Tra từ: c=行 – Từ điển Hán Nôm |url=https://hvdic.thivien.net/whv/%E8%A1%8C |website=Từ điển Hán Nôm}}{{Efn|This is not including Nôm readings such as hàng, hành, hăng, and ngành.}} The readings typically depend on the context and definition of the word. If talking about a store or goods, the reading hàng would be used, but if talking about virtue, the reading hạnh would be used. But typically, knowing what readings was not a large problem due to context and compound words. Most Sino-Vietnamese words are restricted to being in compound words. Readings for chữ Hán, often classified into Sino-Vietnamese readings and Non-Sino-Vietnamese readings. Non-Sino-Vietnamese readings are derived from Old Chinese and recent Chinese borrowings during the 17th–20th centuries when Chinese people migrated to Vietnam.{{Cite book |last=Trần |first=Khánh |title=The Ethnic Chinese and Economic Development in Vietnam |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |year=1993 |isbn=9789813016675}} Most of these readings were food related as Cantonese Chinese had introduced their food into Vietnam. Borrowings from Old Chinese are also referred to as Early Sino-Vietnamese pronunciations according to Mark Alves.{{Cite journal |last=Alves |first=Mark |date=2017 |title=Identifying Early Sino-Vietnamese Vocabulary via Linguistic, Historical, Archaeological, and Ethnological Data |journal=Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics}}

{{See also|Sino-Xenic pronunciations}}

Sino-Vietnamese readings are usually referred to as âm Hán Việt ({{Vi-nom|音漢越}}; literally "sound Sino-Vietnamese"),{{Cite web |last=Trần |first=Uyên Thi |date=2005 |title=Thử tìm hiểu luật biến âm qua hai bản Nôm |url=http://www.trangnhahoaihuong.com/HH_BienAm_050822.pdf |page=3 |language=vi |quote=Về các âm Hán Việt, tức cách đọc bắt nguồn từ chữ Hán vào cuối đời Đường.}}{{Cite journal |last=Shimizu |first=Masaaki |title=A Reconstruction of Ancient Vietnamese Initials Using Chữ Nôm Materials |url=https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1390853649697984768?lang=en |journal=NINJAL Research Papers |date=2015 |volume=9 |pages=135 |doi=10.15084/00000465 |quote=It is also known that Sino-Vietnamese readings were derived from the phonological system of Middle Chinese (MC) (Mineya 1972).}}{{Cite book |last=Nguyễn |first=Hữu Vinh |title=Tự điển chữ Nôm trích dẫn |publisher=Viện Việt học |year=2009 |pages=XV |quote=Mượn âm HV}}{{Cite journal |last=Shimizu |first=Masaaki |date=4 August 2020 |title=Sino-Vietnamese initials reflected in the phonetic components of 15th-century Nôm characters |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/2513850220936774 |journal=Journal of Chinese Writing Systems |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=183–195 |doi=10.1177/2513850220936774 |quote=For most CNs, the choice of the phonetic component is based completely on the Sino-Vietnamese (SV) readings (Cách đọc Hán Việt 漢越音) of the Chinese characters, so the creation of CNs must have occurred later than the formation of SV readings (Nguyễn, 1985). |via=SageJournals}} which are Vietnamese systematic pronunciations of Middle Chinese characters.{{Cite book |last=Norman |first=Jerry |title=Chinese |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-521-29653-3}} These readings were largely borrowed into Vietnamese during the late Tang dynasty (618-907). Vietnamese scholars used Chinese rime dictionaries to derive consistent pronunciations for Chinese characters.{{Cite book |last=Alves |first=Mark |title=Loanwords in Vietnamese |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |year=2009 |isbn=978-3-11-021843-5}} After Vietnam had regained independence, its rulers sought to build the country on the Chinese model, during this time, Literary Chinese was used for formal government documents.{{Cite book |last=DeFrancis |first=John |title=Colonialism and language policy in Viet Nam |publisher=Mouton |year=1977 |isbn=978-90-279-7643-7}} Around this, the Japanese and Koreans also borrowed large amount of characters into their languages and derived consistent pronunciations, these pronunciations are collectively known as the Sino-Xenic pronunciations.

{{See also|Non-Sinoxenic pronunciations#Vietnamese}}

Non-Sino-Vietnamese readings (âm phi Hán Việt; {{Vi-nom|音非漢越}}){{Cite journal |last=Xun |first=Gong |date=4 March 2020 |title=Chinese loans in Old Vietnamese with a sesquisyllabic phonology |journal=Journal of Language Relationship |volume=17 |issue=1–2 |pages=66 |doi=10.31826/jlr-2019-171-209 |s2cid=212689052 |quote=If ⿱亇針 is a case of dấu cá, all the non-Sino-Vietnamese readings, namely găm, kim (and probably ghim) are possible, with no implications on Old Chinese preinitials.|doi-access=free }}{{Cite book |last=Nguyễn |first=Quang Hồng |title=Khái luận văn tự học chữ Nôm |publisher=NXB Giáo Dục |year=2008 |pages=197 |language=vi |quote=Ví như chữ 畫 âm Hán Việt là "hoạ", âm Việt hoá phi Hán Việt là vẽ,}}{{Cite web |title=Chữ Nôm Structure |url=http://www.nomfoundation.org/nom-tools/Tu-Dien-Chu-Nom-Dan_Giai_Sources/Chu-Nom-Structure?uiLang=en |website=Nôm Foundation |language=vi |quote=âm phi Hán Việt}} are pronunciations that were not consistently derived from Middle Chinese.{{Cite book |last=Lê |first=Văn Quán |title=Tự học chữ Nôm |publisher=NXB Khoa học Xã Hội |year=1989 |pages=64 |language=vi |quote=Ở phần phân tích chữ Nôm, còn có trường hợp âm đọc bắt nguồn từ âm Hán Việt cổ hoặc âm Hán Việt Việt hóa, nhưng hiện nay chưa có đẩy đủ cứ liệu, cho nên, chúng tôi tạm xếp các trường hợp đó vào kiểu chữ Nôm đọc chệch âm.}} Typically these readings came from Old Chinese, Cantonese, and other Chinese dialects.

Nôm readings (âm Nôm; {{Vi-nom|音喃}}){{Cite web |last=Trần |first=Uyên Thi |date=2005 |title=Thử tìm hiểu luật biến âm qua hai bản Nôm |url=http://www.trangnhahoaihuong.com/HH_BienAm_050822.pdf |page=4 |language=vi |quote=Giả tá : mượn âm của một chữ Hán đọc trại đi thành âm Nôm. Thí dụ: {{zhi|c=牢}} lao > sao, {{zhi|c=停}} đình > dừng, {{zhi|c=朗}} lãng > rạng.}}{{Cite journal |last=Shimizu |first=Masaaki |title=A Reconstruction of Ancient Vietnamese Initials Using Chữ Nôm Materials |url=https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1390853649697984768?lang=en |journal=NINJAL Research Papers |date=2015 |volume=9 |pages=137 |doi=10.15084/00000465 |quote=We then search for the stage where the Chữ Nôm reading and the SV reading of its phonetic component are the closest.}}{{Cite book |last=Nguyễn |first=Hữu Vinh |title=Tự điển chữ Nôm trích dẫn |publisher=Viện Việt học |year=2009 |pages=XV |quote=Mượn âm Nôm}} were used when there were characters that were phonetically close to a native Vietnamese word's pronunciation would be used as a chữ Nôm character.{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Yu |title=The Chinese Writing System in Asia: An Interdisciplinary Perspective |date=4 November 2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-00-069906-7}} Most chữ Hán characters that were used for Vietnamese words were often used for their Sino-Vietnamese pronunciations rather than their meaning which could be completely different from the actual word being used. These characters were called chữ giả tá (phonetic loan characters), due to them being borrowed phonetically. This was one reason why it was preferred to create a chữ Nôm character rather than using a chữ Hán character causing confusion between pronunciations.

Chữ Hán can be classified into the traditional classification for Chinese characters, this is called lục thư{{Cite book |last=Nguyễn |first=Khuê |title=Tự học Hán văn |publisher=NXB Đà Nẵng |year=2020 |isbn=9786048450243 |edition=10th |pages=18–24 |language=vi}} ({{Vi-nom|六書}}, Chinese: liùshū), meaning six types of Chinese characters. The characters are largely based on 214 radicals set by the Kangxi Dictionary.{{Cite book |last=Nguyễn |first=Khuê |title=Tự học Hán văn |publisher=NXB Đà Nẵng |year=2020 |isbn=9786048450243 |edition=10th |pages=32–58 |language=vi}}

• Chữ chỉ sự ({{Vi-nom|𡨸指事}}) – Ideogram, an example would be {{Vi-nom|上}} (thượng, “above”) and {{Vi-nom|下}} (hạ, “below”).{{Cite book |last=Nguyễn |first=Khuê |title=Tự học Hán văn |publisher=NXB Đà Nẵng |year=2020 |isbn=9786048450243 |edition=10th |pages=19 |language=vi}}
• Chữ tượng hình ({{Vi-nom|𡨸象形}}) – Pictogram, an example would be {{Vi-nom|日}} (nhật, "sun") and {{Vi-nom|木}} (mộc, "tree").{{Cite book |last=Nguyễn |first=Khuê |title=Tự học Hán văn |publisher=NXB Đà Nẵng |year=2020 |isbn=9786048450243 |edition=10th |pages=18–19 |language=vi}}
• Chữ hình thanh ({{Vi-nom|𡨸形聲}}) – Phono-semantic compound, an example would be {{Vi-nom|銅}} (đồng, "copper"; "currency") which is made up of semantic {{Vi-nom|金}} [{{Vi-nom|釒}}] (kim, "metal) and phonetic {{Vi-nom|同}} (đồng).{{Cite book |last=Nguyễn |first=Khuê |title=Tự học Hán văn |publisher=NXB Đà Nẵng |year=2020 |isbn=9786048450243 |edition=10th |pages=22 |language=vi}}{{Efn|Also known as chữ hài thanh (𡨸{{zhi|c=諧聲}}); tượng thanh ({{zhi|c=象聲}}).}}
• Chữ hội ý ({{Vi-nom|𡨸會意}}) – Compound ideographs, an example would be {{Vi-nom|武}} (vũ [võ], "military"; "martial") which is made up of 戈 (qua, "dagger-axe") and {{Vi-nom|止}} (chỉ, “foot”; "to walk").{{Cite book |last=Nguyễn |first=Khuê |title=Tự học Hán văn |publisher=NXB Đà Nẵng |year=2020 |isbn=9786048450243 |edition=10th |pages=20 |language=vi}}
• Chữ chuyển chú ({{Vi-nom|𡨸轉注}}) – Derivative cognates, characters that were derived from other characters with similar meaning, an example would that {{Vi-nom|老}} (lão, "old") is a cognate of {{Vi-nom|考}} (khảo, "elderly").{{Cite book |last=Nguyễn |first=Khuê |title=Tự học Hán văn |publisher=NXB Đà Nẵng |year=2020 |isbn=9786048450243 |edition=10th |pages=21 |language=vi |quote=Hứa Thận định nghĩa "Lập nên một đầu loại, đồng ý cùng nhận, như chữ 考 khảo, 老 lão".}}
• Chữ giả tá ({{Vi-nom|𡨸假借}}) – Phonetic loan, an example would be {{Vi-nom|法}} (Pháp, "France") is used for the name of France. Other European countries are also referred by a chữ giả tá like {{Vi-nom|德}} (Đức, "Germany") and {{Vi-nom|意}} (Ý, "Italy").{{Cite book |last=Nguyễn |first=Khuê |title=Tự học Hán văn |publisher=NXB Đà Nẵng |year=2020 |isbn=9786048450243 |edition=10th |pages=21–22 |language=vi}}

File:Drapeau_du_Parti_Communiste_Indochinois_trouvé_à_Vinh_le_15_janvier_1931.jpg

Some chữ Hán characters were simplified into variants of characters that were easier to write, but they are not the same simplified characters used by current-day Chinese. According to Trịnh Khắc Mạnh, when he analysed the early 13th century book, {{Vi-nom|釋氏寶鼎行持秘旨全章}} (Thích thị Bảo đỉnh hành trì bí chỉ toàn chương). He found that the number of character variants is double the number of variants borrowed from China.{{Cite journal |last=Trịnh |first=Khắc Mạnh |date=11 October 2020 |title=Chinese character variants in Vietnam: A case study of characters in The Complete Secrets for Buddhist Monks in Practice of Precious Rites |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2513850220937817?journalCode=cwsa |journal=Journal of Chinese Writing Systems |volume=4 |issue=3 |page=224 |doi=10.1177/2513850220937817 |s2cid=222315572 |quote=In the past, like Japanese and Korean people, Vietnamese people adopted and used official and variant characters imported from China, but they also created their own variant characters. By analysing the Chinese character variants in the book titled The Complete Secrets for Buddhist Monks in Practice of Precious Rites, we have realised that the number of variants created in Vietnam is double the number of variants adopted from China.}} This means that Vietnamese variant characters may differ from Chinese variants and simplified characters, for example:

• The word {{Vi-nom|羅}} la{{Efn|The Nôm reading of the character is là 'to be'. {{zhi|c=羅}} is a very common character in Nôm texts.}} is simplified into {{Vi-nom|罗}} in Chinese, but it is different in Vietnamese, {{Vi-nom|𱺵}} (⿱{{zhi|c=罒}}𪜀). Other variants include {{Vi-nom|𦉼}} (⿱{{zhi|c=罒大}}) and {{Vi-nom|𪜀}} (⿻{{zhi|c=十ㄣ}}).
• Another example would be the character {{Vi-nom|沒}} một which is simplified into {{Vi-nom|没}} in Chinese and was simplified from {{Vi-nom|沒}} to {{Vi-nom|𱥺}} (⿰{{zhi|c=氵}}𠬠), then finally, {{Vi-nom|𠬠}} (⿱{{zhi|c=丷又}}).
• The word {{Vi-nom|濫}} lạm was simplified into {{Vi-nom|滥}} in Chinese, but was simplified from {{Vi-nom|濫}} to {{Vi-nom|滥}} to {{Vi-nom|𪵯}} (⿰{{zhi|c=氵}}𫜵) to {{Vi-nom|𫜵}} (⿴𰀪⺀) in Vietnamese.{{Cite web |last1=Chan |first1=Eiso |last2=Lee |first2=Collins |last3=Ngô |first3=Thanh Nhàn |date=2020 |title=Request to dis-unify U+722B", in UTC Document Register |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20210-irgn2434-disunify-722b.pdf |website=Unicode}}

Some characters matching Simplified Chinese do exist, but these characters are rare in Vietnamese literature.

There are other variants such as {{Vi-nom|𭓇}} học (variant of {{Vi-nom|學}}; ⿳⿰〢⿻{{zhi|c=丨}}𰀪{{zhi|c=冖子}}) and {{Vi-nom|𱻊}} nghĩa (variant of {{Vi-nom|義}}; ⿱𦍌{{zhi|c=又}}).{{Cite journal |last=Nguyễn |first=Tuấn Cường |date=7 October 2019 |title=Research of square scripts in Vietnam: An overview and prospects |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2513850219861167 |journal=Journal of Chinese Writing Systems |volume=3 |issue=3 |page=6|doi=10.1177/2513850219861167 |s2cid=211673682 }}

Another prominent example is the character, {{Vi-nom|𫢋}} phật (⿰亻天) which is a common variant of the character {{Vi-nom|佛}} meaning 'Buddha'. It is composed of the radicals, {{Vi-nom|人}} nhân [{{Vi-nom|亻}}] and {{Vi-nom|天}} thiên, all together to mean 'heavenly person'.{{Cite journal |last=Nguyễn |first=Tuấn Cường |date=7 October 2019 |title=Research of square scripts in Vietnam: An overview and prospects |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2513850219861167 |journal=Journal of Chinese Writing Systems |volume=3 |issue=3 |page=195 |doi=10.1177/2513850219861167 |s2cid=211673682 |quote=For example, the character Phật/Fó 佛 ‘Buddha’ is written 𠏹 (亻+西+國 = person from western country) or 𫢋 (亻+ 天 = heavenly person), not 𠑵 (西域哲人 = wise person from western region) and 仸 (亻+ 夭 = ogreish person) as it is in Chinese variants.}}{{Cite journal |last=Trịnh |first=Khắc Mạnh |date=11 October 2020 |title=Chinese character variants in Vietnam: A case study of characters in The Complete Secrets for Buddhist Monks in Practice of Precious Rites |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2513850220937817 |journal=Journal of Chinese Writing Systems |volume=4 |issue=3 |page=222 |doi=10.1177/2513850220937817 |s2cid=222315572 |quote=The second variant, “𫢋”, occurs 15 times; for example, in the following sentence: “化為𫢋(佛)𬽪(佛)給付” (“Become Buddha, Buddha will entrust immediately” [82b]).}}

{{multiple image

| align = center

| direction = horizontal

| width = 150

| image1 = Chữ 𭓇.png

| alt1 =

| caption1 = {{Vi-nom|𭓇}}, a variant of {{Vi-nom|學}}

| image2 = Chữ nghĩa variant.png

| alt2 =

| caption2 = {{Vi-nom|𱻊}}, a variant of {{Vi-nom|義}}

| alt3 =

| width2 =

| image3 = Hán 漢 with 龷.png

| caption3 = In Vietnamese writing, {{Vi-nom|𦰩}} is written with {{Vi-nom|龷}} on top. (⿰{{zhi|c=氵⿱龷⿻口夫}})

}}

The character {{Vi-nom|匕}} (chuỷ) or {{Vi-nom|〻}} is often used as an iteration mark to indicate that the current chữ Hán character is to be repeated. This is used in words that use reduplication. For example, in the poem Chinh phụ ngâm khúc ({{Vi-nom|征婦吟曲}}), the character {{Vi-nom|悠}} (du) is repeated twice in the third line of the poem. It is written as {{Vi-nom|悠〻}} to represent {{Vi-nom|悠悠}} (du du).

File:Miễn tử tôn hành thiện thi.jpg

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The way the marker is used is very similar to how Chinese and Japanese use their iteration marker {{zhi|c=々}}. Japanese uses {{zhi|c=々}} as an iteration marker, so, for example, {{zhi|c=人人}} (hitobito) would be written as {{zhi|c=人々}} (hitobito).

• Chữ Nôm
• Literary Chinese in Vietnam
• History of writing in Vietnam
• Chinese characters
• East Asian cultural sphere
• Kanji – Japanese equivalent of Chinese characters
• Hanja – Korean equivalent of Chinese characters
• Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary
• Tự Đức thánh chế tự học giải nghĩa ca - Literary Chinese - Vietnamese dictionary

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