chu nom

alternative chữ nôm · alternative Chu Nom

1. historicaluncountableA writing system formerly used for Vietnamese, based on Chinese characters.

   To write a vernacular word, Chu Nom used two Chinese ideograms—one to indicate the meaning, the other the sound.

   1998, Kevin Bowen, Ba Chung Nguyen, Bruce Weigl, editors, Mountain River, page xxiv

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   Chữ nôm was known only by the 5 percent or less of Vietnam's educated population, who used it not as a primary medium but rather as an aid to learning Chinese and for recording folk literature.

   1997, Wm. C. Hannas, Asia's Orthographic Dilemma, page 83

   [P]olitical reforms along Western lines […] included […] developing modern science, agriculture, and commerce, and even creating a national writing system based on chu nom: ‘Have we not talented persons able to devise a script which will transcribe our national language?’

   2016, Christopher Goscha, The Penguin History of Modern Vietnam, Penguin, published 2017, page 106