Definition

1. Adverb:
   • From day to day, in a hand-to-mouth manner: Describes a way of living or existing where one barely manages to meet immediate needs, without any security or surplus for the future. It implies a precarious, day-by-day struggle.

Usage Examples

• Adverb:
  • Gia đình họ sống đắp đổi qua ngày. (Their family lives from hand to mouth.)
  • Công việc bấp bênh khiến anh ấy phải sống một cuộc sống đắp đổi. (The unstable job forces him to live a hand-to-mouth existence.)

Advanced Usage

• The term "đắp đổi" is almost exclusively used in the fixed phrase "sống đắp đổi" (to live from hand to mouth). It vividly conveys a state of economic precarity and constant struggle for basic sustenance.

Variants and Related Words

• Chật vật (adj/adverb): Struggling, with difficulty. While similar in describing hardship, is broader and not specifically tied to economic survival.
  • Anh ấy chật vật kiếm sống. (He struggles to make a living.)
• Bữa đói bữa no (idiom): Literally "a hungry meal, a full meal"; describes an irregular, insecure food supply, closely related to the concept of .

Synonyms

• Tạm bợ (adj): Makeshift, temporary. Can describe a precarious living situation but focuses more on instability than on daily scarcity.
• Bấp bênh (adj): Unstable, precarious. A more general term for insecurity, which can apply to .

Related Idioms

• Đầu tắt mặt tối: Literally "head extinguished, face dark"; means to work extremely hard from dawn till dusk, often just to make ends meet. This is a common cause or companion state to .
  • Họ đầu tắt mặt tối làm việc nhưng vẫn chỉ đủ sống đắp đổi. (They work tirelessly from dawn till dusk but still only have enough to live from hand to mouth.)

1. From day to day,from hand to mouth
   • Sống đắp đổi
     To live from hand to mouth