game
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Middle English game, gamen, gammen, from Old English gamen (“sport, joy, mirth, pastime, game, amusement, pleasure”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaman, from Proto-Germanic *gamaną (“amusement, pleasure, game", literally "participation, communion, people together”), from *ga- (collective prefix) + *mann- (“man”); or alternatively from *ga- + a root from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think, have in mind”).
Cognate with Old Frisian game, gome (“joy, amusement, entertainment”), Middle High German gamen (“joy, amusement, fun, pleasure”), Swedish gamman (“mirth, rejoicing, merriment”), Icelandic gaman (“fun”). Related to gammon, gamble.
Noun
[edit]game (countable and uncountable, plural games)
- A playful or competitive activity.
- A playful activity that may be unstructured; an amusement or pastime.
- (countable) An activity described by a set of rules, especially for the purpose of entertainment, often competitive or having an explicit goal.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:game
- 1983, Lawrence Lasker et al., WarGames:
- Joshua: Shall we play a game?
David: ... Love to. How about Global Thermonuclear War?
Joshua: Wouldn't you prefer a good game of chess?
David: Later. Let's play Global Thermonuclear War.
Joshua: Fine.
- Games in the classroom can make learning fun.
- (UK, in the plural) A school subject during which sports are practised.
- (countable) A particular instance of playing a game.
- Synonym: match
- Sally won the game.
- They can turn the game around in the second half.
- 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- “I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.
- That which is gained, such as the stake in a game.
- The number of points necessary to win a game.
- In short whist, five points are game.
- See also: for the win
- (card games) In some games, a point awarded to the player whose cards add up to the largest sum.
- (countable) The equipment that enables such activity, particularly as packaged under a title.
- Some of the games in the closet we have on the computer as well.
- One's manner, style, or performance in playing a game.
- Study can help your game of chess.
- Hit the gym if you want to toughen up your game.
- 1951, J. D. Salinger, chapter 11, in The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC:
- I played golf with her that same afternoon. She lost eight balls, I remember. Eight. I had a terrible time getting her to at least open her eyes when she took a swing at the ball. I improved her game immensely, though.
- (countable) Ellipsis of video game.
- 2019 May 8, Jon Bailes, “Save yourself! The video games casting us as helpless children”, in The Guardian[1]:
- There’s a sense here, as well as in games such as Limbo, that we’re making ourselves experience our children’s reality, trapped in the chaos that the adults have created.
- (now rare) Lovemaking, flirtation.
- (slang) Prostitution. (Now chiefly in on the game.)
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], lines 61–63:
- ſet them downe, / For ſlottiſh ſpoyles of opportunitie; / And daughters of the game.
- 1755, Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Tobias Smollett, Don Quixote, Volume 1, I.2:
- [H]e put spurs to his horse, and just in the twilight reached the gate, where, at that time, there happened to be two ladies of the game [translating mugeres moças], who being on their journey to Seville, with the carriers, had chanced to take up their night's lodging in this place.
- (countable, informal, nearly always singular) A field of gainful activity, as an industry or profession.
- Synonym: line
- When it comes to making sales, John is the best in the game.
- He's in the securities game somehow.
- (countable, figuratively) Something that resembles a game with rules, despite not being designed.
- In the game of life, you may find yourself playing the waiting game far too often.
- 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 77, column 2:
- I ſee you ſtand like Grey-hounds in the ſlips, / Straying vpon the Start. The Game’s afoot:
- 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- “I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.
- 2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18:
- Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too.
- (countable, military) An exercise simulating warfare, whether computerized or involving human participants.
- Synonym: wargame
- (countable) A questionable or unethical practice in pursuit of a goal.
- 1845, Blackwood Magazine:
- Your murderous game is nearly up.
- 1902, George Saintsbury, Dryden, page 182:
- It was obviously Lord Macaulay's game to blacken the greatest literary champion of the cause he had set himself to attack.
- (uncountable) Wild animals hunted for food.
- The forest has plenty of game.
- 1907, John Burroughs, Camping & Tramping with Roosevelt[2], Houghton Mifflin Company, →OCLC, pages 5–6:
- I had known the President several years before he became famous, and we had had some correspondence on subjects of natural history. His interest in such themes is always very fresh and keen, and the main motive of his visit to the Park at this time was to see and study in its semi-domesticated condition the great game which he had so often hunted during his ranch days; and he was kind enough to think it would be an additional pleasure to see it with a nature-lover like myself.
- (uncountable, informal, used mostly for men) The ability to seduce someone, usually by strategy.
- He didn't get anywhere with her because he had no game.
- 1998, “She's Strange”, performed by Nate Dogg:
- She's strange, so strange, but I didn't complain / She said yes to me when I ran my game
- (uncountable, slang) Mastery; the ability to excel at something.
- 1998, “He Got Game”, performed by Public Enemy:
- What is game? Who got game? / Where's the game in life, behind the game behind the game / I got game, she's got game / We got game, they got game, he got game
- 2005, Kermit Ernest Campbell, Gettin' Our Groove on: Rhetoric, Language, and Literacy for the Hip Hop Generation, →ISBN, page 123:
- In the contemporary arts of the academic contact zone, I say African American students got game!
- 2009, Michael Marshall, Bad Things, →ISBN, page 24:
- My dad had game at that kind of thing, and I spent long periods as a child watching him.
- (uncountable, archaic) Diversion, entertainment.
- 1611, Joseph Hall, “Epistle VIII. To E.B. Dedicated to Sir George Goring.”, in Epistles […], volume III, London: […] [William Stansby and William Jaggard] for Samuell Macham, […], →OCLC, 5th decade, pages 95–96:
- To ſet the minde on the racke of long meditation (you ſay) is a torment: to follow the ſwift foote of your hound alday long, hath no wearineſſe: what would you ſay of him that finds better game in his ſtudie, then you in the fielde, and would account your diſport his puniſhment? ſuch there are, though you doubt and wonder.
Derived terms
[edit]- 163rd game
- action game
- adventure game
- after-game
- A game
- A-game
- ahead of the game
- ain't no shame in my game
- all fun and games
- alternate reality game
- arcade game
- art game
- artillery game
- as game as Ned Kelly
- at the top of one's game
- away game
- back in the game
- back-seat game
- badger game
- Balbo's game
- ball game
- banking game
- beat someone at their own game
- beautiful game
- beer and pretzels game
- be game
- big game
- black game
- blame game
- blow this for a game of soldiers
- board game
- bowl game
- bullet-screen game
- cannon game
- card game
- cash game
- casual game
- catch someone at their own game
- cat's game
- centipede game
- change the game
- children's game
- choking game
- circle game
- city-building game
- clapping game
- clicker game
- cocktail game
- complete game
- computer game
- confidence game
- con game
- console game
- cooperative game
- Cornish game hen
- counting-out game
- crane game
- crunch game
- crying game
- cue game
- dance game
- day game
- death game
- dice game
- door game
- doujin game
- dress-up game
- drinking game
- end-game
- end game
- endgame
- end of the ballgame, end of the ball game
- exhibition game
- expectations game
- extensive form game
- fair game
- field game
- fighting game
- fuck this for a game of soldiers
- fun and games
- game as Ned Kelly
- game bag
- game ball
- game bird
- game board
- game camera
- game chair
- game-changer
- game changer
- game-changing
- game clock
- game club
- gamecock
- game console
- game controller
- game day
- game drive
- game-end
- game engine
- game face
- game-filled
- game fish
- game for a laugh
- game fowl
- game-goer
- game-head
- game jam
- game jammer
- game-keeper
- game keeper
- game laws
- gamely
- game-making
- game manager
- game master
- game mastering
- game mode
- game of chance
- game of chicken
- game of gotcha
- game of luck
- game of skill
- game of strategy
- game of the goose
- game of Troy
- game of two halves
- game on
- game out
- game over
- game-over
- game pad
- game park
- game piece
- game plan
- gameplay
- game-play
- game point
- game port
- game preserve
- gamer
- game rage
- game reserve
- game room
- game room, games room
- game save
- game score
- game sense
- game set
- game, set, match
- game sheet
- game show
- gamesmanship
- game studies
- game-theoretical
- game theorist
- game theory
- game time
- game-time decision
- game warden
- game-winner
- game with a purpose
- gamey
- gamy
- German game
- give the game away
- god game
- good game
- grab game
- grand strategy game
- ground game
- guessing game
- gutter game
- hand game
- have fun and games
- head-game
- head game
- home game
- idle game
- imitation game
- incremental game
- in-game
- in-game currency
- in the game
- iron game
- killer game
- knife game
- language game
- late in the game
- late to the game
- launch game
- lift one's game
- long game
- lookers-on see most of the game
- love game
- make game of
- map game
- massively multiplayer online game
- massively multiplayer online role-playing game
- match-four game
- match-three game
- mathematical game
- May game
- Mazur game
- mechanical game
- medal game
- metagame
- metagaming
- middle game
- mind game
- mini-game
- mobile game
- mug's game
- Murphy game
- music game
- music video game
- name of the game
- new game +
- new game plus
- new to the game
- nomination game
- normal form game
- Northcott's game
- no shame in my game
- number game
- numbers game
- off one's game
- old army game
- only game in town
- on one's game
- on the game
- on top of one's game
- open game
- otome game
- panel game
- parity game
- parlor game
- parlor-game
- parlour game
- parlour-game
- party game
- passing game
- penis game
- Penney's game
- perfect game
- pervasive game
- philosopher's game
- pick-up game
- pinch of the game
- pitch game
- platform game
- play a double game
- play games
- play someone at their own game
- play stupid games, win stupid prizes
- play the game
- play the pronoun game
- Ponzi game
- post game
- pre-game
- puzzle game
- race game
- rage game
- raise one's game
- redemption game
- reindeer games
- rhythm game
- ring game
- road game
- roaring game
- roleplaying game
- rôle-playing game
- role-playing game
- role playing game
- role-playing video game
- round game
- rules of the game
- run game
- run game on
- sandbox game
- saved game
- screw this for a game of soldiers
- semi-closed game
- semi-open game
- service game
- shell game
- Sir Philip Sidney game
- skin in the game
- small game
- sod that for a game of soldiers
- sod this for a game of soldiers
- stage of the game
- stealth game
- step up one's game
- strap game
- strategy game
- strongman game
- survival game
- tabletop game
- tactical role-playing game
- take-that game
- take the game to
- talk a big game
- talk a good game
- team game
- the game is not worth the candle
- the game is up
- there's no shame in my game
- tile-matching game
- town-building game
- Troy game
- TV game
- twitch game
- two can play at that game
- two can play at this game
- two can play that game
- two can play this game
- two-handed game
- tycoon game
- ultimatum game
- up one's game
- vantage game
- viddy game
- video arcade game
- video game
- video game console
- video-game console
- waiting game
- wall game
- war game
- what's your game
- whole new ball game
- wide game
- word game
- zero-sum game, zero sum game
Descendants
[edit]- → Brazilian Portuguese: game
- → Dutch: gamen, game
- → Irish: géim
- → Japanese: ゲーム
- → Korean: 게임 (geim), 겜 (gem)
- → Norman: gamme
- → Norwegian: gamen, game
- → Spanish: game
- → Welsh: gêm
- → Finnish: geimit
Translations
[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Adjective
[edit]game (comparative gamer, superlative gamest)
- (colloquial) Willing and able to participate.
- Synonyms: sporting, willing, daring, disposed, favorable, nervy, courageous, valiant
- Antonyms: cautious, disinclined
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 36, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 180:
- " […] But what’s this long face about, Mr. Starbuck; wilt thou not chase the white whale? art not game for Moby Dick?”
- 2016 February 23, Robbie Collin, “Grimsby review: ' Sacha Baron Cohen's vital, venomous action movie'”, in The Daily Telegraph (London):
- Some of Grimsby’s other (extraordinarily up-to-date) targets include Donald Trump and Daniel Radcliffe, whose fates here are too breath-catchingly cruel to spoil, and also the admirably game Strong, whose character is beset by a constant stream of humiliations that hit with the force of a jet of…well, you’ll see.
- (of an animal) That shows a tendency to continue to fight against another animal, despite being wounded, often severely.
- Persistent, especially in senses similar to the above.
Translations
[edit]Verb
[edit]game (third-person singular simple present games, present participle gaming, simple past and past participle gamed)
- (intransitive) To gamble.
- 1898, “George Washington: Statesman, Christian Gentleman”, in Suggestive programs for special day exercises:
- an impressive protest against gaming, swearing, and all immoral practices which might forfeit divine aid in the great struggle for National Independence
- (intransitive) To play card games, board games, or video games.
- 2017 June 16, Joanna Walters, “Inside the rehab saving young men from their internet addiction”, in The Guardian[3]:
- “The first few days after getting here are weird. It’s a version of cold turkey because you’ve been gaming around the clock and suddenly, nothing. […] ”
- (transitive) To exploit loopholes in a system or bureaucracy in a way which defeats or nullifies the spirit of the rules in effect, usually to obtain a result which otherwise would be unobtainable.
- We'll bury them in paperwork, and game the system.
- 2012 August 31, Amanda Holpuch, “Trolls game Taylor Swift competition in favor of school for the hearing impaired”, in The Guardian[4]:
- A large batch of online trolls have gamed a web contest that promises a Taylor Swift performance at any school in the US. The target? Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
- 2020 February 6, Alex Hern, quoting Natalie Hitchins, “Amazon Choice label is being 'gamed to promote poor products'”, in The Guardian[5]:
- “Amazon risks betraying the trust millions of customers place in the Amazon’s Choice badge by allowing its endorsement to be all too easily gamed,” said Which?’s Natalie Hitchins.
- 2023 January 25, Christian Wolmar, “An informative cab ride on the state of the railway”, in RAIL, number 975, page 34:
- It is an example of what real entrepreneurship can do on the railway, but sadly there are not many other examples. Most of the private sector businesses in rail are simply 'gaming' the system, trying to outdo or outthink the regulator and the Government in order to generate profit.
- (transitive, seduction community, slang, of males) To perform premeditated seduction strategy.
- 2005 October 6, “Picking up the pieces”, in The Economist[6]:
- Returning briefly to his journalistic persona to interview Britney Spears, he finds himself gaming her, and she gives him her phone number.
- 2010 July 9, Sheila McClear, “Would you date a pickup artist?”, in New York Post[7]:
- How did Amanda know she wasn’t getting gamed? Well, she didn’t. “I would wonder, ‘Is he saying stuff to other girls that he says to me?’ We did everything we could to cut it off […] yet we somehow couldn’t.”
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]Etymology 2
[edit](This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Adjective
[edit]game (comparative more game, superlative most game)
- (of a limb) Injured, lame.
- 1906 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Lost on Dress Parade”, in The Four Million, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co, →OCLC:
- You come with me and we'll have a cozy dinner and a pleasant talk together, and by that time your game ankle will carry you home very nicely, I am sure."
- 1930, Edna Ferber, Cimarron, page 29:
- He was done for, all right. I took out my six-shooter and aimed right between his eyes. He kicked once, sort of leaped—or tried to, and then lay still. I stood there a minute, to see if he had to have another. He was so game that, some way, I didn’t want to give him more than he needed.
See also
[edit]Anagrams
[edit]Chinese
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From English game (Cheung, 2007, page 220).
Pronunciation
[edit]- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
- Jyutping: gem1
- Cantonese Pinyin: gem1
- Guangdong Romanization: gém1
- Sinological IPA (key): /kɛːm⁵⁵/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
Noun
[edit]game
- (Hong Kong Cantonese) game (especially video games and online games) (Classifier: 隻/只 c)
Derived terms
[edit]- troll game
- 音game (yīngiàn)
References
[edit]Dutch
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]Noun
[edit]game m (plural games, diminutive gamepje n)
- A video game, an electronic game.
Hyponyms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Etymology 2
[edit]See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
[edit]game
- inflection of gamen:
Middle English
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Old English gamen/gomen, from Proto-West Germanic *gaman, from Proto-Germanic *gamaną, of disputed origin.
Alternative forms
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈɡaːm(ə)/, /ˈɡam(ə)/, /ˈɡaːmən/, /ˈɡamən/
- (from OE gomen) IPA(key): /ˈɡɔːm(ə)/, /ˈɡɔːmən/
- (Kent) IPA(key): /ˈɡɛːm(ə)/, /ˈɡɛːmən/
Noun
[edit]game (plural games or game)
- Entertainment or an instance of it; that which is enjoyable:
- A sport or other outdoor or physical activity.
- A game; a codified (and often competitive) form of entertainment.
- Sexual or romantic entertainment or activity (including intercourse in itself).
- An amusing, joking, or humorous activity or event.
- Any kind of event or occurrence; something that happens:
- An endeavour; a set of actions towards a goal.
- Any kind of activity having competition or rivalry.
- The state of being happy or joyful.
- Game; wild animals hunted for food.
- (rare) One's quarry; that which one is trying to catch.
- (rare) Gamesmanship; gaming behaviour.
- (rare) The reward for winning a game.
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- English: game (see there for further descendants); gammon (dialectal gam)
- Fingallian: gamshoge
- Scots: gemme, gem, gyem
- Yola: gaame, gaume, gaaume
References
[edit]- “gāme, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-07-09.
Etymology 2
[edit]From Old English gæmnian, gamnian, gamenian.
Verb
[edit]game
- Alternative form of gamen
Portuguese
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]Unadapted borrowing from English game.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]game m (plural games)
- (Brazil) electronic game (game played on an electronic device, such as a computer game, a video game or the like)
Quotations
[edit]For quotations using this term, see Citations:game.
See also
[edit]Etymology 2
[edit]See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Pronunciation
[edit]
Verb
[edit]game
- inflection of gamar:
Spanish
[edit]Noun
[edit]game m (plural games)
Swedish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from English game. Attested since 1900.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]game n
Declension
[edit]Declension of game | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | game | gamet | game | gamen |
Genitive | games | gamets | games | gamens |
Derived terms
[edit]References
[edit]Vietnamese
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ɣem˧˧], [ɣɛm˧˧]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [ɣem˧˧], [ɣɛm˧˧]
- (Saigon) IPA(key): [ɣem˧˧], [ɣɛm˧˧]
- Phonetic spelling: ghêm, ghem
Noun
[edit]game
- (video games) Synonym of trò chơi điện tử (“a video game”)
See also
[edit]- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/eɪm
- Rhymes:English/eɪm/1 syllable
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- British English
- en:Card games
- English ellipses
- English terms with rare senses
- English slang
- English informal terms
- en:Military
- English terms with archaic senses
- English adjectives
- English colloquialisms
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Seduction community
- en:Ball games
- Cantonese terms borrowed from English
- Cantonese terms derived from English
- Chinese lemmas
- Cantonese lemmas
- Chinese nouns
- Cantonese nouns
- Chinese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Chinese terms written in foreign scripts
- Hong Kong Cantonese
- Chinese nouns classified by 隻/只
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/eːm
- Dutch terms borrowed from English
- Dutch terms derived from English
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch masculine nouns
- Dutch non-lemma forms
- Dutch verb forms
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English terms with rare senses
- Fingallian links with redundant wikilinks
- Fingallian links with redundant target parameters
- Middle English verbs
- enm:Emotions
- enm:Entertainment
- enm:Games
- enm:Hunting
- enm:Meats
- enm:Sex
- enm:Sports
- Portuguese terms borrowed from English
- Portuguese unadapted borrowings from English
- Portuguese terms derived from English
- Portuguese 1-syllable words
- Portuguese 2-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese masculine nouns
- Brazilian Portuguese
- Rhymes:Portuguese/ɐmɨ
- Rhymes:Portuguese/ɐmɨ/2 syllables
- Rhymes:Portuguese/ɐ̃mi
- Rhymes:Portuguese/ɐ̃mi/2 syllables
- Portuguese non-lemma forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- pt:Video games
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish masculine nouns
- es:Tennis
- Swedish terms borrowed from English
- Swedish terms derived from English
- Swedish terms with homophones
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish neuter nouns
- sv:Tennis
- sv:Squash
- Swedish slang
- Vietnamese terms borrowed from English
- Vietnamese terms derived from English
- Vietnamese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Vietnamese lemmas
- Vietnamese nouns
- vi:Video games