mình

From Middle Vietnamese mềnh, mình.

The form mềnh appears to be more conservative and was widely used in the Northern dialects, while the now common form mình seems to be originally Central-Southern. In Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651), a dictionary based chiefly on the Northern dialects, mềnh was the much more common form. In Dictionarium Anamitico-Latinum (1838), a dictionary based chiefly on the Southern dialects, the form mềnh has no entry, while mình is abundantly attested. The Muong Bi cognate miềnh also points to mềnh as being the more conservative form (cf. Vietnamese đến vs. Muong Bi tiểnh, Vietnamese ếch vs. Muong Bi iếch, etc.)

Compare bệnh vs. bịnh, nghênh vs. nghinh, lệnh vs. lịnh.

For the semantic relationship, compare:

• Chinese 身 (shēn, “body > oneself”) as well as Japanese 胴 (dō, “torso”), which came to mean "oneself" in Kyūshū.
• Chinese 身 (shēn, “body > I, me”).

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [mïŋ˨˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [mɨn˦˩]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [mɨn˨˩]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

mình • (命, 𠇮, 𠵴, 𨉓, 𨉟)

1. a torso

   đầu, mình, tứ chi ― the head, the torso, and the four limbs

2. (by extension) a body

   mình lấm lết máu ― with one's body covered in blood

   nhức mình ― with aching all over one's body

mình • (命, 𠇮, 𠵴, 𨉓, 𨉟)

1. oneself (used especially to substitute whatever preceding pronoun or kinship term to avoid repetition)

   Synonym: ta

   Antonym: người

   Nó cứ tự trách mình mãi.

   She keeps blaming herself ~ He keeps blaming himself.

   Biết mình biết người, trăm trận trăm thắng.

   So long as you know yourself and your enemy fully well, you'll keep winning.

   (literally, “Knowing yourself and knowing others, you'll win all one hundred battles.”)

   • Hillel the Elder, quoted in Pirqē Aḇoṯ 1:14 (original in Hebrew); English translation by Joshua Kulp

     Mình không vì mình, thì ai vì mình? Mình vì [mình] mình, thì mình là gì? Không lúc này, thì lúc nào?

     If I am not for myself, who is for me? But if I am for my own self [only], what am I? And if not now, when?

   • 18th century, Nguyễn Gia Thiều (阮嘉韶) (1741-1798), Cung oán ngâm khúc (宮怨吟曲), Phú Văn đường tàng (富文堂藏), printed in 1866 edition:

     擬命命吏𢧚傷餒命

     Nghĩ mình, mình lại nên thương nỗi mình.

     Thinking about myself, I became even more distressed about my situation.

   • 2005, Nguyễn Ngọc Tư, “Cái nhìn khắc khoải”, in Cánh đồng bất tận, NXB Trẻ:

     Ông hỏi chị nọ đi đâu, chị khóc như mưa bấc, "Tôi cũng không biết mình đi đâu".

     He asked here where she was going; she cried softly, "I don't know where I'm going either."

2. (friendly, polite or in soliloquy) I/me

   Nhật kí thân yêu, hôm nay mình... ― Dear diary, today I...

   • Hillel the Elder, quoted in Pirqē Aḇoṯ 1:14 (original in Hebrew); English translation by Joshua Kulp

     Mình không vì mình, thì ai vì minh? Mình vì [mình] mình, thì mình là gì? Không lúc này, thì lúc nào?

     If I am not for myself, who is for me? But if I am for my own self [only], what am I? And if not now, when?

   • 18th century, Nguyễn Gia Thiều (阮嘉韶) (1741-1798), Cung oán ngâm khúc (宮怨吟曲), Phú Văn đường tàng (富文堂藏), printed in 1866 edition:

     擬命命吏𢧚傷餒命

     Nghĩ mình, mình lại nên thương nỗi mình.

     Thinking about myself, I became even more distressed about my situation.

3. (intimate, inclusive) we/us

   lớp mình ― our class

   Hay mình đi công viên đi!

   How about us going to the park?

4. (Northern Vietnam, endearing) you (used for one's spouse)

   Chồng: Mình ơi, anh yêu mình.
   Vợ: Mình ơi, em cũng yêu mình.

   Husband: Dear, I love you.
   Wife: Dear, I love you too.

   • 1954, Tố Hữu, “Việt Bắc”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Ta với mình, mình với ta
     Lòng ta sau trước mặn mà đinh ninh
     Mình đi, mình lại nhớ mình
     Nguồn bao nhiêu nước nghĩa tình bấy nhiêu

     You and me, my dear, we are one together
     My heart always remains devoted to you
     As I'm leaving, I can't stop missing you, a part of me
     Our affection is as abundant as streaming water

mình • (命, 𠇮, 𠵴, 𨉓, 𨉟)

1. (colloquial) only

   Năm ngoái, có mình Nhân lên đại học.

   Last year, only Nhân started attending university.

   mình mình ― only oneself

   • Hillel the Elder, quoted in Pirqē Aḇoṯ 1:14 (original in Hebrew); English translation by Joshua Kulp

     Mình không vì mình, thì ai vì minh? Mình vì [mình] mình, thì mình là gì? Không lúc này, thì lúc nào?

     If I am not for myself, who is for me? But if I am for my own self [only], what am I? And if not now, when?

• On the Internet, mình is many speakers' pronoun of choice for "I", especially when chatting with strangers, because it carries a friendly yet not too intimate tone. In the spoken language, mình is usually the inclusive, intimate "we".
• mình with the meaning "torso" and "body" is often colloquial, and the compounds such as thân mình or cơ thể are usually preferred in formal writing.