Definition

1. Adjective (figurative):
   • To feel deeply pained or heartbroken: Describes an intense emotional pain, sorrow, or anguish, as if one's insides are being severed. It conveys a profound sense of grief, distress, or sympathy.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Nghe tin dữ, bà cụ đứt ruột. (Hearing the bad news, the old woman was heartbroken.)
  • Thấy cảnh tang tóc mà đứt ruột. (To feel deeply pained by the sight of death and grief.)
  • Nó đứt ruột khi phải xa con. (She felt a deep, wrenching pain when she had to leave her child.)

Advanced Usage

• This term is almost exclusively used in a figurative, emotional sense. Its literal meaning ("severed intestines") is rarely used in modern language except in specific medical or violent contexts.

Variants and Related Words

• Đau lòng (adj): heartbroken, pained. A more common synonym with similar emotional weight.

  • Câu chuyện thật đau lòng. (The story is truly heartbreaking.)

• Đau đớn (adj): painful, agonizing. Can refer to both physical and emotional pain.

  • Anh ấy cảm thấy đau đớn tột cùng. (He felt extreme agony.)

Synonyms

• Heartbroken: overwhelmed by grief or disappointment.
• Devastated: severely shocked or distressed.
• Wrenched: affected by a sudden feeling of acute pain or distress.

Related Idioms

• Đứt từng khúc ruột: An intensified form meaning "to feel as if one's intestines are being cut into pieces," emphasizing unbearable, prolonged emotional agony.
  • Chứng kiến con sa ngã, bà mẹ đứt từng khúc ruột. (Witnessing her child go astray, the mother felt a prolonged, wrenching agony.)

1. Feel deeply pained
   • Thấy cảnh tang tóc mà đứt ruột
     To feel deeply pained by the sight of death and grief