Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Expensive, high-priced, costly: Describes something that requires a lot of money to buy or maintain, often implying a high cost relative to value or expectation.
   • Dear: An older or more formal term for expensive, still used in certain contexts.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Thức ăn càng ngày càng đắt đỏ. (The price of food is getting more and more expensive.)
  • Sinh hoạt đắt đỏ. (The high cost of living.)
  • Mua nhà ở thành phố này quá đắt đỏ. (Buying a house in this city is too costly.)
  • Giá xăng dầu trở nên đắt đỏ. (The price of gasoline has become dear.)

Advanced Usage

• "đắt đỏ một cách vô lý": unreasonably expensive, exorbitant.
  • Chiếc túy này đắt đỏ một cách vô lý. (This bag is unreasonably expensive.)
• Used to describe abstract concepts like experiences or consequences.
  • Bài học đó thật đắt đỏ. (That was a costly lesson.)

Variants and Related Words

• Đắt (adj): Expensive, dear. (The core adjective; is more emphatic.)
• Mắc (adj, Southern Vietnamese): Expensive.
• Cao (adj): High. (Can be combined, e.g., = high price, but not a direct synonym for ).
• Đắt giá (adj): Valuable, precious (often for non-material things like advice or a player in sports).
• Đắt đỏ itself is a reduplicative form (từ láy) of , intensifying its meaning.

Synonyms

• Tốn kém: Costly, involving great expense.
• Giá cao: High-priced. (A more neutral description than , which often carries a negative connotation.)

Antonyms

• Rẻ: Cheap, inexpensive.
• Rẻ tiền: Low-priced.
• Phải chăng: Reasonable (in price).
• Bình dân: Affordable, for the masses.

Related Phrases and Idioms

• Tiền nào của nấy: You get what you pay for. (Implies that expensive things might have higher quality.)
• Đắt xắt ra miếng: A Vietnamese idiom similar to "You get what you pay for," suggesting expensive things are of good quality.

1. Dear, high in cost
   • Thức ăn càng ngày càng đắt đỏ
     The price of food got dearer and dearer
   • Sinh hoạt đắt đỏ
     A high cost of living