• IPA^(key): /trɔŋː/

From Old Norse þrǫng.

trong m (definite singular trongen, uncountable)

1. need

   Me har trong for fleire folk.

   We have a need for more people.

• behov
• bruk

From Old Norse þrǫngr.

trong (neuter trongt, definite singular and plural tronge, comparative trongare, indefinite superlative trongast, definite superlative trongaste)

1. tight, narrow

   Dei gjekk gjennom tronge fjellpass.

   They walked through narrow mountain passes.

trong

1. past of trenga

• “trong” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕawŋ͡m˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʈawŋ͡m˧˧] ~ [ʈɔŋ˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʈawŋ͡m˧˧]
• (Vinh) IPA^(key): [ʈɔŋ˧˥]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

From Proto-Vietic *k-lɔːŋ (“clear; limpid”).

Attested in Phật thuyết đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh (佛說大報父母恩重經) as 𱷥, an simplified form of 龍 (MC ljowng) (modern SV: long). Attested as tlao᷃ in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651).

trong • (冲, 工, 沖, 𤁘, 𤄯, 𬈴)

1. (of liquid) clear and thus presumably clean

   Antonym: đục

   Nước trong mà! Uống chắc không sao đâu!

   The water looks pretty clean! Probably wouldn't hurt to drink a bit!

2. (of a material) translucent or transparent

   Synonym: trong suốt

From Proto-Vietic *k-lɔːŋ (“inside”), from Proto-Austroasiatic *kluːŋ ~ *kluəŋ (“insides; belly”). Cognates include Muong tlong, Chut [Rục] klɔːŋ¹, Pacoh callúng, Semnam kluoːŋ, Bulo Stieng kluŋ, and Khmer ក្នុង (knong). Doublet of lòng, tròng and possibly nòng.

Attested in Phật thuyết đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh (佛說大報父母恩重經) as 工 (MC kuwng) (modern SV: công) and 共 (MC gjowngH) (modern SV: cộng). Attested as tlao᷄ in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651).

Unrelated to Chinese 中 (OC *truŋ) (B-S), which is read trung in modern Vietnamese and spelled tru᷄ in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum.

Proto-Tai *klaːŋᴬ (whence Thai กลาง (glaang)) and Proto-Mienic *ɢljaŋᴬ (whence Iu Mien jaangh) might just be look-alikes.

trong • (工, 宮, 中, 共, 𥪝, 𥪞)

1. in; inside; within (an interior or enclosed space)

   trong nhà/phòng ― in(side) the house/room

   trong tim/lòng/bụng ― in one's heart (literally, “inside the heart/entrails/stomach”)

2. within (an amount of time)

   Synonym: trong vòng

   trong (vòng) 4 tiếng ― within four hours

3. in/among (a group)

   Synonym: trong số

   trong đám đông ― in/among the crowd

4. in (a place in southern Vietnam)

   trong nam ― someplace in southern Vietnam; "the south"

• ngoài

• In certain modern romanization of Nôm texts where this morpheme was written with 工 (MC kuwng), 共 (MC gjowngH), and 宮 (MC kjuwng), it is sometimes transcribed as ⟨cong⟩ or ⟨cung⟩. This is due to the misinterpretation of the nature of the graphemes: the phonological (and likely also phonetic) value of the morpheme that these graphemes represented at the time when they were first used was probably *klɔŋ^A1 (or something similar) and was the ancestor of modern trong, with the medial liquid maintained until at least the end of the Middle Vietnamese period. For a similar case, compare modern trả, giả (“to pay back, to return”) < *ɓlaː^C1, used to be spelled with 把 (MC paeX) in numerous Nôm texts. The *cong and *cung romanizations are thus nothing more than ghosts, and ought to be transcripted instead as ⟨trong⟩ (if scriptor only tries to write the modern reflex) or reconstructed *klɔŋ^A1 (for historical value).

trong

1. behind (an enclosed space)

   Antonym: ngoài

   phòng trong ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)