Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Stale; slightly spoiled: Used primarily to describe fish, seafood, or meat that is no longer fresh and is beginning to develop an unpleasant odor or taste. It indicates the early stages of spoilage.
   • Listless; weak; under the weather: Used to describe a person, especially a child, who appears persistently weak, sickly, or lacking in energy and vitality.

2. Verb (less common):

   • To spoil; to become stale: The process by which food, especially protein like fish, loses its freshness.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (describing food):

  • Cá này đã ươn, không nên ăn. (This fish is stale; you shouldn't eat it.)
  • Thịt để bên ngoài lâu quá nên bị ươn. (The meat was left out too long, so it spoiled.)

• Adjective (describing a person):

  • Cháu bé mới ốm dậy nên trông còn hơi ươn. (The child just recovered from illness, so he still looks a bit listless.)
  • Sao dạo này anh trông ươn người vậy? (Why have you been looking so weak lately?)

Advanced Usage

• The word "ươn" often carries a nuance of something being of spoilage or sickness, not completely rotten or severely ill.
• It is frequently used in the Vietnamese proverb: "Cá không ăn muối cá ươn." This literally means "Fish that doesn't eat salt becomes stale," and is used metaphorically to imply that a child who does not heed parental advice will go astray.

Variants and Related Words

• Ọp ươn (adj): Describes something (often a person) as very thin, gaunt, and weak.
  • Ốm xong nó trông ọp ươn. (After being sick, he looks gaunt and weak.)

Synonyms

• For food: Stale, spoiled, off, turning.
• For a person: Listless, weak, sickly, languid, under the weather.

Related Idioms

• Cá không ăn muối cá ươn: A proverb. Literally: "Fish that doesn't eat salt becomes stale." Figuratively: A child who disobeys or doesn't listen to wise counsel (the "salt") will not turn out well.

adj

1. stale

verb

1. spoil