also: えつなん
noun
Refers to the country Vietnam. The katakana form ベトナム is standard; the kanji form 越南 is an ateji spelling and is rarely used.
See also: ベトナム
来月、ベトナムへ旅行に行きます。
Next month I'm going on a trip to Vietnam.
ベトナム料理はとてもおいしいです。
Vietnamese food is very delicious.
Ateji spelling using kanji for their phonetic values; rarely used in modern Japanese.
Ateji spelling with the gikun reading ベトナム; very rare and mainly historical.
From Vietnamese 'Việt Nam', via English or French. The kanji spelling 越南 is ateji, using characters for their sounds rather than meanings.