Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Muddy, slushy: Describes ground, terrain, or roads that are covered with or consist of soft, wet, sticky earth, often making passage difficult.
   • Squalid, backward: Used figuratively to describe a place or condition that is wretched, stagnant, and underdeveloped, often characterized by filth and poverty.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau cơn mưa, con đường làng trở nên bùn lầy. (After the rain, the village road became muddy.)
  • Khu ổ chuột đó thật sự là một nơi bùn lầy nước đọng. (That slum is truly a squalid, backward place.)

Advanced Usage

• The phrase "bùn lầy nước đọng" is a fixed expression used metaphorically to depict a state of extreme squalor, stagnation, and lack of development, often referring to a physical place or a societal condition.

Variants and Related Words

• Lầy lội (adj): Synonymous with muddy, boggy.
  • Cánh đồng lầy lội sau mùa lũ. (The field is boggy after the flood season.)

Synonyms

• Muddy: Covered with or full of mud.
• Boggy: Too wet and muddy to be easily walked on; marshy.
• Squalid: Extremely dirty and unpleasant, especially from poverty or neglect.

Related Idioms

• Bùn lầy nước đọng: Literally "muddy and stagnant water," idiomatically meaning a state of filth, stagnation, and backwardness.
  • Họ đang cố gắng thoát khỏi cuộc sống bùn lầy nước đọng. (They are trying to escape from a squalid, stagnant life.)

adj

1. Muddy, slushy
   • đường sá bùn lầy
     muddy roads
   • bùn lầy nước đọng
     mud and puddles, squalor