Definition

1. Verb:
   • To cover with a layer: To place or spread a material over a surface, typically to protect, warm, or decorate it.
   • To build up by adding material: To add and shape material, such as earth or clay, to raise a level, form a structure, or create a shape.
   • To apply a substance: To put a substance, often medicinal or cosmetic, onto a surface like skin.

Usage Examples

• To cover:
  • Trời lạnh, con hãy đắp chăn vào. (It's cold, please cover yourself with a blanket.)
  • Công nhân đang đắp nhựa đường. (The workers are covering the road with asphalt.)
• To build up / shape:
  • Người ta đắp đê để ngăn lũ. (People build/bank up dikes to prevent floods.)
  • Nghệ nhân đắp một pho tượng Phật bằng đất sét. (The artisan shaped a Buddha statue from clay.)
• To apply a substance:
  • Cô ấy đắp mặt nạ dưỡng da. (She applies a nourishing face mask.)
  • Bác sĩ bảo đắp thuốc lên vết thương. (The doctor said to apply the medicine to the wound.)

Advanced Usage

• "đắp điếm": To cover up, to gloss over (often used figuratively for hiding faults or mistakes).
  • Hắn chỉ biết đắp điếm cho những sai lầm của mình. (He only knows how to cover up his own mistakes.)
• "đắp chiếu" (idiomatic): Literally "to cover with a mat," meaning to cease operations temporarily or to shut down a business.
  • Quán ăn đã phải đắp chiếu vì ế khách. (The restaurant had to shut down due to a lack of customers.)

Variants and Related Words

• Đắp đổi (verb): To exchange, to trade (often in the context of bartering or making do).
  • Sống qua ngày bằng nghề đắp đổi. (To make a living by trading.)
• Bồi đắp (verb): To silt up; to nourish, to cultivate (figuratively for knowledge, feelings).
  • Phù sa bồi đắp cho đồng bằng. (Alluvial silt builds up the delta.)
  • Bồi đắp tình cảm. (To nurture feelings.)
• Vun đắp (verb): To nurture, to foster (relationships, love, career).
  • Vun đắp hạnh phúc gia đình. (To foster family happiness.)

Synonyms

• Phủ (verb): To cover, to spread over.
• Bồi (verb): To add layers, to build up by depositing material.
• Nặn (verb): To mold, to shape (specifically with hands).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Đắp vào: To cover/put on something.
  • Đắp thêm đất vào gốc cây. (To add more soil around the tree base.)
• Đắp lên: To cover over something.
  • Đắp một lớp vữa lên tường. (To apply a layer of mortar onto the wall.)

Related Idioms

• "Đắp nợ đắp công": To accumulate debts or merits over time; to describe a long, ongoing process of building something (often intangible).
  • Sự nghiệp của ông ấy là cả một quá trình đắp nợ đắp công. (His career is the result of a long process of accumulated effort.)
• "Non kia ai đắp mà cao, sông kia ai bới ai đào mà sâu?" (Ca dao): A rhetorical folk verse pondering the natural world's origins. "Who built that mountain so high, who dug that river so deep?"

verb

1. to emtank; to bank; to cover with