Definition

1. Noun:
   • Life and rebirth; lifetime and reincarnation cycle: Refers to the concept of a single lifespan within the cycle of death and rebirth, often emphasizing its length, hardship, or fate.
   • Eternity; an immeasurably long time: Used colloquially to express a very long, often tedious, period, sometimes with a sense of hopelessness or exaggeration.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Đời kiếp nào tôi mới trả hết nợ? (In what lifetime will I ever repay all this debt?)
  • Chờ đợi ở đây cảm giác như lâu đến cả đời kiếp. (Waiting here feels like it takes an eternity.)
  • Số phận đời kiếp của con người thật khó đoán. (The fate of a person's life and rebirth is hard to predict.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used in exclamations or rhetorical questions to convey despair, resignation, or the seeming endlessness of a situation.
  • Đời kiếp gì mà khổ thế này! (What kind of wretched life is this!)

Variants and Related Words

• Kiếp (n): lifetime, incarnation, fate. A core component of "đời kiếp," often used alone.
  • Kiếp này tôi là một người lương thiện. (In this lifetime, I am an honest person.)
• Kiếp người (n): human life/lot.
  • Kiếp người ngắn ngủi lắm. (A human life is very short.)

Synonyms

• Lifetime: the duration of a single life.
• Eternity: infinite or unending time.
• Fate/Destiny: the development of events beyond a person's control.

Related Idioms

• Đầu thai kiếp khác: to be reincarnated into another life.
  • Hy vọng kiếp sau, hay đời kiếp khác, tôi sẽ gặp lại cô ấy. (I hope in the next life, or another lifetime, I will meet her again.)
• Khổ như kiếp trâu ngựa: to suffer like a beast of burden; a life of hard labor.
  • Ông ấy làm việc khổ như kiếp trâu ngựa cả đời. (He worked as hard as an ox his whole life.)