Definition

1. Noun:
   • Mud: A soft, wet, sticky mixture of earth and water.
   • Sludge, mire: Thick, soft, wet earth that is difficult to move through.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Trẻ con thích nghịch bùn. (Children like playing with mud.)
  • Sau cơn mưa, con đường đầy bùn. (After the rain, the road is full of mud.)
  • Anh ấy lội qua đám bùn lầy. (He waded through the swampy mire.)

Advanced Usage

• "Gần bùn mà chẳng hôi tanh mùi bùn": A proverb meaning "Near the mud but not smelling of its stench." It praises someone who remains virtuous and uncorrupted despite being in a bad environment.

  • Câu chuyện về vị quan thanh liêm thật đúng với câu "gần bùn mà chẳng hôi tanh mùi bùn". (The story of the incorruptible official truly fits the proverb "near the mud but not smelling of its stench.")

• "Rẻ như bùn": An idiom meaning "as cheap as dirt" or "dirt-cheap," indicating something is very inexpensive or of low value.

  • Mấy món đồ ở chợ trời này rẻ như bùn. (These items at the flea market are dirt-cheap.)

Variants and Related Words

• Bùn lầy (n): Quagmire, swampy mud.

  • Xe bị sa lầy trong vùng bùn lầy. (The vehicle got stuck in the quagmire.)

• Bùn non (n): Soft, fresh mud (often used in pottery/ceramics).

• Bùn bẩn (n): Dirty mud, filth.
• Bùn đất (n): Earth and mud; soil.

Synonyms

• Bẩn: Dirty, filth (more general for dirtiness).
• Bồ hóng: Soot (a different type of grime).
• Sình: Very soft, deep mud; mire (emphasizes wetness and depth).

Related Phrases

• Lội bùn: To wade through mud.

  • Người nông dân phải lội bùn ra đồng. (The farmer had to wade through mud to get to the field.)

• Vấy bùn: To splash/spatter with mud; figuratively, to tarnish someone's reputation.

  • Xe chạy qua vấy bùn lên quần tôi. (The car drove by and splashed mud on my pants.)
  • Đối thủ chính trị cố tình vấy bùn lên danh tiếng của ông ta. (His political opponent tried to tarnish his reputation.)

Related Idioms

• "Đấm bùn sang ao" (or "Đấm bùn sang ao, đổ nước lên đầu"): Literally "to punch mud into the pond, to pour water on one's own head." It means to engage in futile, pointless work that creates more trouble or solves nothing.

  • Việc anh ấy làm chẳng khác nào đấm bùn sang ao. (What he did was as futile as punching mud into a pond.)

• "Chân trong bùn, tay trong nước": Literally "feet in mud, hands in water." It describes the hard, manual labor of farmers working in wet fields.

  • Cuộc sống chân trong bùn, tay trong nước của người nông dân thật vất vả. (The life of "feet in mud, hands in water" for farmers is very hard.)

noun

1. Mud
   • làm cỏ sục bùn
     to weed grass and stir mud
   • rẻ như bùn
     dirtcheap
   • lấy bùn ao làm phân
     to use mud from ponds as manure