Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Extremely hungry, famished, weak from hunger: Describes a severe state of hunger that causes physical weakness, lightheadedness, or a feeling of being about to collapse.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau ba ngày lạc trong rừng, họ đã đói lả. (After being lost in the forest for three days, they were famished.)
  • Đi làm cả ngày mà không ăn gì, tôi cảm thấy đói lả. (Working all day without eating anything, I felt weak from hunger.)
  • Đứa trẻ đói lả nên khóc không thành tiếng. (The child was so famished that it cried without making a sound.)

Advanced Usage

• The term often implies a critical, urgent need for food, beyond simple hunger. It is used to emphasize a state of physical depletion caused by lack of nourishment.

Variants and Related Words

• Đói (adj): hungry.

  • Tôi đói bụng. (I am hungry.)

• Lả đi (v): to become weak or limp; to feel faint.

  • Cô ấy mệt lả đi. (She is exhausted and faint.)

Synonyms

• Famished: suffering severely from hunger.
• Starving: suffering or dying from hunger (colloquially used for extreme hunger).
• Weak from hunger: lacking strength due to lack of food.

Related Idioms

• Đói run người: to be so hungry one is shaking.

  • Nhịn ăn sáng, đến trưa nó đói run người. (Skipping breakfast, by noon he was so hungry he was shaking.)

• Đói meo đói mèo: to be very hungry (colloquial and playful).

  • Cả lũ đói meo đói mèo chờ bữa tối. (The whole gang, terribly hungry, waited for dinner.)