Definition

1. Verb:

   • To brag or boast: To talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities, often exaggerating the truth.
   • To blabber or prate: To talk at length in a foolish, empty, or purposeless way, often revealing unimportant or secret information.

2. Adjective:

   • Boastful or garrulous: Describing a person who habitually brags or talks excessively and foolishly.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Anh ta lúc nào cũng ba hoa là mình giỏi nhất. (He always brags that he is the best.)
  • Đừng ba hoa về kế hoạch đó cho bất kỳ ai. (Don't blab about that plan to anyone.)
• Adjective:
  • Anh chàng ba hoa ấy chẳng biết gì thực sự cả. (That boastful guy doesn't really know anything.)

Advanced Usage

• The term often carries a strong negative connotation, implying that the speaker is not trustworthy and their words are empty or exaggerated.
• It can be used to describe not just the act of boasting, but also the characteristic of being a boastful person.

Variants and Related Words

• Ba hoa thiên địa / Ba hoa xích đế (v): To jabber, to talk a great deal of utter nonsense.
  • Thôi đi, đừng ba hoa thiên địa ở đây nữa. (Stop it, don't jabber nonsense here anymore.)

Synonyms

• Brag: To boast.
• Blabber: To chatter foolishly or indiscreetly.
• Prate: To talk foolishly or at tedious length.
• Boastful (adj.): Showing excessive pride.

Related Idioms

• Ba hoa chích chòe: To talk frivolously and incessantly about everything.
  • Cô ấy chỉ biết ba hoa chích chòe, đừng tin những gì cô ta nói. (She only knows how to talk frivolously, don't believe what she says.)
• Ba hoa một tấc lên trời: To exaggerate wildly, to talk something up to an extreme degree.
  • Câu chuyện của hắn toàn là ba hoa một tấc lên trời. (His story is nothing but wild exaggeration.)

verb

1. to brag, to boast, to prate, to blabber
   • lúc nào hắn cũng ba hoa là không ai sánh được với hắn về tiếng Anh
     he always brags that he is unrivalled in English language
   • cô ta ba hoa rằng mình chưa bao giờ nghỉ việc một ngày nào vì bệnh cả
     she boasts that she has never missed a day's work because of illness
   • lão thầy bói đang ba hoa về cái gì thế?
     what's the old fortune-teller blabbering about?
   • lão ta ba hoa chẳng đâu vào đâu
     he prates on about nothing
   • ba hoa lộ bí mật
     to blab out secrets
   • ba hoa thiên địa
     to jabber, to talk a lot of nonsense