 In the Vietnamese language, ' means "cake", and ' can either mean "cow" or "to crawl".According to Paulus Huỳnh Tịnh Của's 1895 dictionary "Đại Nam quốc âm tự vị", the dessert is named for its resemblance to a cow's udder, implying that the name was shortened from '.However, according to a popular folk etymology, ' refers to how the cake "crawls" up to the rim of the bowl when steamed to completion.

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