In Vietnamese, the term bánh (Hanoi: [ɓaʲŋ̟˧˥] or Saigon: [ɓan˧˥], Chữ Nôm: 餅) translates loosely as "cake" or "bread", but refers to a wide variety of prepared foods that can easily be eaten by hands or chopsticks. With the addition of qualifying adjectives, bánh refers to a wide variety of sweet or savory, distinct cakes, buns, pastries, sandwiches, and other food items, which may be cooked by steaming, baking, frying, deep-frying, or boiling. Foods made from wheat flour or rice flour are generally called bánh, but the term may also refer to certain varieties of noodle and fish cake dishes, such as bánh canh and bánh hỏi.
Each variety of bánh is designated by a descriptive word or phrase that follows the word bánh, such as bánh bò (lit. 'cow cake') or bánh chuối (lit. 'banana cake'). Bánh that are wrapped in leaves before steaming are called bánh lá (lit. 'leaf cakes').
In Vietnamese, the term bánh is not limited to Vietnamese cuisine: it applies equally to items as varied as fortune cookies (bánh may mắn), pudding (bánh pudding, bánh pútđinh), caramel custard (bánh caramen, bánh flan), sacramental bread (Bánh Thánh), Hamburger (bánh Hamburger, bánh Hămbơgơ), etc.
In some cases, the word can also refer to inedibles that have a cake-like shape, such as wheels (bánh xe), bath soaps (bánh xà phòng, bánh xà bông), and compressed tobacco wheels (bánh thuốc lào).
