Westernized look. Sino-Vietnamese etymology A frequently heard, and reasonable, explanation is that Sài is a Chinese  loanword  ( Chinese :  柴 , pronounced  chái  in  Mandarin ) meaning “firewood, lops, twigs; palisade”, while Gòn is another Chinese loanword (Chinese:  棍 , pronounced gùn in Mandarin) meaning “stick, pole, bole”, and whose