Definition

1. Verb:
   • To dig up; to scratch up: To move or remove material (like soil, garbage) with hands, claws, or a tool to uncover something beneath.
   • To rake up; to dredge up: To bring up old, often negative, stories or secrets about someone.
   • To scoop (rice): To serve cooked rice from a pot using a utensil like a spoon or rice paddle.
   • To put up (hair): To gather and twist hair into a bun or chignon.

Usage Examples

• Verb (to dig/scratch):
  • Con gà đang bới đống rác. (The chicken is scratching up the garbage pile.)
  • Họ phải bới đất để tìm vật chứng. (They had to dig up the soil to find evidence.)
• Verb (to rake up the past):
  • Đừng bới chuyện cũ nữa. (Don't dredge up old stories anymore.)
• Verb (to scoop rice):
  • Mẹ bới cơm vào bát cho con. (Mother scoops rice into a bowl for her child.)
• Verb (to put up hair):
  • Cô ấy bới tóc lên cho mát. (She puts her hair up to stay cool.)

Advanced Usage

• "bới lông tìm vết": Literally "to part the feathers to find a blemish." This idiom means to nitpick, to deliberately look for faults or flaws in someone.
  • Anh ta luôn bới lông tìm vết với đồng nghiệp. (He always nitpicks his colleagues' faults.)
• "bới bèo ra bọ": Literally "to rake through duckweed to find water fleas." This idiom means to make trouble or create a problem where none exists, often by digging up minor issues.
  • Việc đó đã xong, đừng bới bèo ra bọ nữa. (That matter is settled, don't go making trouble over nothing.)

Variants and Related Words

• Bới móc (v): To dig up and expose (secrets, faults); to pry.
  • Báo chí hay bới móc đời tư của người nổi tiếng. (The press often digs up the private lives of celebrities.)
• Bới việc (v): To stir up an issue; to bring up an old matter.
  • Ai đó đang bới việc cũ của công ty ra. (Someone is stirring up the company's old issues.)

Synonyms

• Dig/Scratch: to excavate, to rummage.
• Expose: to uncover, to reveal (secrets).
• Scoop: to serve, to ladle (food).
• Coil: to twist, to put up (hair).

Related Idioms

• Bới xương: Literally "to dig up bones." This means to speak ill of the dead or to malign someone who is not present to defend themselves.
  • Người đã khuất, đừng bới xương họ nữa. (The deceased are gone, do not speak ill of them anymore.)

verb

1. To dig up, to scratch up
   • bới khoai
     to dig up potato, to lift potatoes
   • bới lạc
     to dig up groundnuts, to lift groundnuts
   • gà bới rác tìm mồi
     chickens scratch garbage for food, chickens scratch about in the heap of garbage
   • bới hầm sập cứu người bị nạn
     to dig up casualties from a crumbled shelter
2. To pick holes in (someone's coat)
   • bới xấu nhau
     to pick holes in one another's coat
3. To abuse, to call (someone's) bad name
   • bới bèo ra bọ
     to make trouble (by picking holes in someone's coat)