Vietnamese

[vee-et-nah-meez, -mees, -nuh-, vyet-, vee-it-] /viˌɛt nɑˈmiz, -ˈmis, -nə-, ˌvyɛt-, ˌvi ɪt-/
noun, plural Vietnamese.
1.
a native or inhabitant of Vietnam.
2.
Formerly Annamese, Annamite. the language of Vietnam, of uncertain linguistic affiliation.
adjective
3.
of or pertaining to Vietnam or its inhabitants.
Origin
1945-50; Vietnam + -ese
Related forms
pro-Vietnamese, adjective, noun, plural pro-Vietnamese.
British Dictionary definitions for Vietnamese

Vietnamese

/ˌvjɛtnəˈmiːz/
adjective
1.
of, relating to, or characteristic of Vietnam, its people, or their language
noun
2.
(pl) -ese. a native or inhabitant of Vietnam
3.
the language of Vietnam, probably related to the Mon-Khmer languages
Word Origin and History for Vietnamese

1947, from Vietnam + -ese.

Vietnamese in Technology
human language
An Asian language that, like other CJKV languages, requires 16-bit character encodings but, unlike them, does not use Han characters.
While normal Vietnamese has not used Han characters since the 18th century, the standards TCVN 5773 and TCVN 6056 contain Han characters and may be used by computers and academics.
(2001-01-01)