Definition

1. Noun:
   • Cat: A small domesticated carnivorous mammal with soft fur, a short snout, and retractile claws, often kept as a pet or for catching mice.
   • (Slang) Girlfriend, mistress: A colloquial and sometimes pejorative term for a young woman, especially a girlfriend or mistress.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Animal):
  • Nhà tôi có nuôi một con mèo. (My family keeps a cat.)
  • Con mèo đó rất thích nằm phơi nắng. (That cat really likes to sunbathe.)
• Noun (Slang):
  • Anh ta dắt theo con mèo mới. (He brought his new girlfriend along.)
  • Chuyện mèo má gà đồng. (Affairs related to promiscuous men and women.)

Advanced Usage

• "mèo già hóa cáo": An old, experienced, and cunning person (literally: "an old cat turns into a fox").
  • Đừng coi thường ông ấy, mèo già hóa cáo đấy. (Don't underestimate him; he's a sly old fox.)
• "như mèo thấy mỡ": To show extreme eagerness or craving (literally: "like a cat seeing fat").
  • Thằng bé nhìn gói kẹo như mèo thấy mỡ. (The boy looked at the candy pack with eager eyes.)
• "chó chê mèo lắm lông": The pot calling the kettle black (literally: "the dog criticizing the cat for being too hairy").
  • Anh chê tôi lười? Chó chê mèo lắm lông! (You call me lazy? That's the pot calling the kettle black!)

Variants and Related Words

• Mèo cái: She-cat, female cat.
• Mèo con: Kitten.
• Mèo rừng: Wildcat.
• Mèo mả gà đồng: A promiscuous person (derogatory, literally: "tomb cat and field chicken").
• Họ mèo: The feline family (Felidae).

Synonyms

• Con vật: Animal (general).
• Mão: (Archaic, Sino-Vietnamese) Cat. Also used in some dialects.
• Ả, gái: Girl, woman (for the slang meaning).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Nằm mèo: To lie curled up like a cat.
  • Nó nằm mèo trên ghế sofa. (He/she lay curled up on the sofa.)
• Giấu như mèo giấu cứt: To hide something very poorly (vulgar, literally: "to hide like a cat hides its poop").
  • Nó giấu tiền giấu như mèo giấu cứt, ai mà chả thấy. (He hid the money so poorly that everyone could see it.)

Related Idioms

• Chó treo, mèo đậy: To take appropriate preventive measures for different situations (literally: "dogs should be tied up, cats should be covered").
  • Phải biết chó treo mèo đậy chứ. (You must know the right way to handle different things.)
• Mèo khen mèo dài đuôi: Self-praise (literally: "a cat praising another cat for having a long tail").
  • Bài viết của anh ấy toàn là mèo khen mèo dài đuôi. (His article is full of self-praise.)

noun

1. cat
   • mèo cái
     she cat
   • mèo rừng
     wild cat