vietminh

vietminh — noun

1. a member of a Vietnamese political and military league that fought to end French

1.nounC2
Definition

a member of a Vietnamese political and military league that fought to end French colonial control between 1941 and 1951, led by the Communist Party under Hồ Chí Minh

Example

Mei learned her great-uncle served as a Viet Minh during the war against French forces.

a Viet Minh — referring to an individual member

The Viet Minh controlled large areas of northern Vietnam by the late 1940s.

the Viet Minh — referring to the organization as a whole

Common collocations
  • join the Viet Minh
  • fight as a Viet Minh
  • Viet Minh soldier
  • Viet Minh forces
  • Viet Minh movement
  • Viet Minh campaign
  • former Viet Minh
Synonyms

Grammar Patterns

the Viet Minh (organization)

a Viet Minh (person)

Usage Note

Capitalized as 'the Viet Minh' when referring to the organization as a whole. As a countable noun ('a Viet Minh') it refers to an individual member. The name is a shortened form of the full Vietnamese title. Not to be confused with 'the Viet Cong,' the later communist guerrilla force active during the Vietnam War (1959–1975).

Common Mistakes

The Viet Minh fought against the United States in the 1960s.
The Viet Minh fought against French colonial rule in the 1940s and early 1950s.
The Viet Minh (1941–1951) was active before the US war in Vietnam; the Viet Cong fought the US later.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Viet Minh refers specifically to the independence league founded in 1941 that fought French colonial rule through 1951. Viet Cong (Việt Cộng) was the later communist guerrilla army active in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War (1959–1975) — the two groups are sometimes confused because they share a Vietnamese communist lineage but operated in different periods against different opponents. The full name Việt Nam Độc Lập Đồng Minh Hội (League for the Independence of Vietnam) is the formal title, rarely used in modern English outside academic writing. For example: 'My grandfather was a Viet Minh in the 1940s' would be factually incorrect if replaced with 'Viet Cong', since the latter group did not yet exist.

Viet MinhViet CongViệt Nam Độc Lập Đồng Minh Hội

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • the Viet Minh
  • a Viet Minh

Etymology

VietnameseEnglish

Shortened from the Vietnamese name Việt Nam Độc Lập Đồng Minh Hội (League for the Independence of Vietnam), this title was adopted in 1941 when Hồ Chí Minh founded the organization to unite nationalist and communist groups against French colonial rule. The word entered English-language historical writing during and after the First Indochina War.

First known use

1945

1945, in the meaning defined above