Definition

1. Verb:
   • To feel compassion or pity for: To experience a feeling of sorrow and concern for someone else's misfortune or difficult situation.
   • To feel hesitant or reluctant (due to scruples or consideration): To feel uneasy, reluctant, or troubled about doing something because it may impose on others, cause trouble, or feel inappropriate.

Usage Examples

• (Seeing their difficult circumstances, I truly feel compassion.)
• (I feel very hesitant/reluctant to ask for your help again.)
• (She felt reluctant and didn't want to refuse their sincere invitation.)

Advanced Usage

• The word often conveys a nuanced feeling that mixes pity with a sense of personal unease or delicacy. It is used in contexts where one's action (or inaction) is weighed against compassion for others or social propriety.
• It can describe the internal conflict of accepting a kindness that feels too generous, making the recipient feel subtly indebted or troubled.

Variants and Related Words

• Thương cảm (v): To sympathize, to feel pity. (Focuses more on the feeling of pity itself.)
• Ngại ngùng (adj): To be shy, embarrassed, or hesitant. (Focuses more on personal embarrassment than compassionate concern.)

Synonyms

• Compassion: Sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings of others.
• Reluctance: Unwillingness or hesitation to do something.
• Scruple: A feeling of doubt or hesitation about the morality or propriety of a course of action.

Related Idioms

• Ái ngại không đành: To be unable to bear the feeling of compassion/reluctance; to feel too troubled to proceed.
  • Thấy bạn vất vả quá, tôi ái ngại không đành ngồi yên. (Seeing you struggle so much, I couldn't bear to just sit still.)

verb

1. To feel compassion for
   • thấy lũ trẻ bơ vơ, ai cũng ái ngại
     at the sight of those waifs and strays, everyone feels compassion for them
2. ái nữ

noun

1. Daughter