Definition

Verb: - To eat raw/uncooked food: To consume food in its raw state, without cooking it. This often refers to vegetables, seafood, or meat prepared in dishes like salads or carpaccio. - (Figurative) To act hastily or thoughtlessly; to crush/destroy swiftly: Used metaphorically to describe acting without careful consideration or defeating someone/something completely and instantly.

Usage Examples

• Literal meaning:
  • Người Nhật thường ăn sống cá trong món sashimi. (The Japanese often eat raw fish in sashimi.)
  • Rau xà lách này có thể ăn sống được. (This lettuce can be eaten raw.)
• Figurative meaning:
  • Anh ta có tính ăn sống nuốt tươi, chưa nghe hết câu chuyện đã phán xét. (He has a habit of jumping to conclusions; he judges before hearing the whole story.)
  • Đội bóng đó ăn sống nuốt tươi đối thủ với tỉ số 5-0. (That team crushed the opponent with a score of 5-0.)

Advanced Usage

• "ăn sống nuốt tươi": This is a common idiomatic compound.
  • Literal sense: To eat something raw and swallow it whole, emphasizing consuming something completely uncooked.
  • Figurative senses:

    1. To act rashly, without thinking or deliberating.
    2. To overwhelm, suppress, or annihilate an opponent swiftly and completely.
  • Example: Đừng có ăn sống nuốt tươi lời tôi nói, hãy suy nghĩ kỹ đi. (Don't just swallow my words whole without thinking; consider them carefully.)

Variants and Related Words

• Sống (adj): Raw, uncooked, alive.
  • Thịt sống (raw meat)
• Ăn chín (verb phrase): To eat cooked food. (This is the common opposite of "ăn sống").
  • Ở vùng này, người dân thường ăn chín uống sôi để phòng bệnh. (In this region, people usually eat cooked food and drink boiled water to prevent disease.)

Synonyms

• Ăn tái (verb phrase): To eat (usually meat) rare or very lightly cooked. (This is different from completely raw "ăn sống").
  • Tôi thích ăn bò tái hơn là bò sống. (I prefer eating rare beef rather than raw beef.)
• Hấp tấp (adj): Hasty, rash. (A synonym for the figurative meaning of acting without thought).
• Nghiền nát (verb): To crush, to grind. (A synonym for the figurative meaning of destroying completely).

Related Idioms/Phrases

• "Ăn sống nuốt tươi": As detailed in the "Advanced Usage" section, this is the primary and almost inseparable idiomatic extension of "ăn sống". It carries stronger figurative connotations than "ăn sống" alone.

Notes on Usage

• The term "ăn sống" is most naturally used in its literal sense when talking about food.
• In modern Vietnamese, the figurative meanings are almost exclusively expressed through the four-character idiom "ăn sống nuốt tươi". Using "ăn sống" alone in a figurative sense might sound incomplete or less common.
• It is important to distinguish between the literal act of eating raw food (a culinary practice) and the idiomatic expression which describes behavior or competitive dominance.

verb

1. to eat uncooked food