Definition

1. Noun:

   • Writing table, desk: A piece of furniture with a flat surface for reading, writing, or working, often with drawers or compartments.
   • Office, secretariat: The physical location or administrative unit where clerical and bureaucratic work is conducted.

2. Noun (figurative):

   • Bureaucracy, red tape: Refers to the administrative system, its procedures, or the excessive adherence to formal rules, often seen as causing delay.

Usage Examples

• Noun (furniture):
  • Trên bàn giấy có một chiếc máy tính và vài quyển sách. (On the desk, there is a computer and a few books.)
• Noun (administrative unit/work):
  • Anh ấy làm việc ở bàn giấy của công ty. (He works in the company's office/secretariat.)
  • Cô ấy mệt mỏi với công việc bàn giấy. (She is tired of clerical work.)
• Noun (figurative: bureaucracy):
  • Dự án bị chậm trễ vì thủ tục bàn giấy. (The project is delayed because of bureaucratic procedures/red tape.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used in a critical or negative sense to describe inefficient, rigid, or paperwork-heavy administrative systems.
  • Lối làm việc quan liêu bàn giấy đã cản trở sự phát triển. (Bureaucratic working methods have hindered development.)

Variants and Related Words

• Công việc bàn giấy / Công việc giấy tờ (n): Clerical work, paperwork.
• Thủ tục bàn giấy (n): Bureaucratic procedures, red tape.

Synonyms

• Desk: A table for writing or working.
• Office: A room or building for administrative work.
• Bureaucracy: A system of administration marked by officialism and red tape.
• Red tape: Excessive bureaucracy or adherence to official rules and formalities.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Vướng bàn giấy: To be tied up in red tape; to be delayed by bureaucracy.
  • Giấy phép xây dựng bị vướng bàn giấy. (The construction permit is tied up in red tape.)

noun

1. Writing table, desk
2. Office, secretariat..
   • công việc bàn giấy, công việc giấy tờ
     clerical work, paperwork
   • lối làm việc quan liêu bàn giấy
     bureaucracy, red tape
   • các thủ tục bị trắc trở vì tệ quan liêu
     procedures hedged about with red tape