Definitions

1. Noun:

   • A large cooking pot: Specifically refers to a big pot, traditionally used for cooking, especially for making "bánh chưng" (glutinous rice square cakes).

2. Verb:

   • To burst or tear open suddenly: Describes something breaking open with force, often due to pressure or age.
   • To swing or fly open forcefully: Used for doors, gates, or similar objects opening widely and suddenly.
   • To boil something until it becomes very soft or pulpy: To cook something, like maize or eggplant, in boiling water until it reaches a soft, mushy consistency.
   • To expand or develop rapidly and vigorously: Describes something, like an industry or activity, receiving a strong impulse and growing quickly.
   • To come undone, become loose, or become distended: Refers to things like ties, springs, or bindings losing their tension or coming apart.
   • To be leaked or exposed (of news or information): For a secret or piece of news to become publicly known.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • Cần một cái bung lớn để nấu bánh chưng. (A large cooking pot is needed to make square glutinous rice cakes.)

• Verb:

  • Chiếc lốp xe bung vì áp suất quá cao. (The tire burst because the pressure was too high.)
  • Cánh cửa bung ra khi có gió mạnh. (The door swung open when there was a strong wind.)
  • Mẹ thường bung ngô cho mềm để nấu chè. (Mother often boils the maize to a pulp to make sweet soup.)
  • Ngành du lịch địa phương bung ra sau mùa dịch. (The local tourism industry expanded vigorously after the pandemic season.)
  • Sợi dây buộc đã cũ nên bung ra. (The old tying string came undone.)
  • Tin tức về vụ việc đã bung ra ngoài. (The news about the incident has been leaked.)

Advanced Usage

• "bung binh": (slang) To go bankrupt, to fail financially.
  • Công ty đó đã bung binh sau chỉ một năm. (That company went bankrupt after just one year.)
• "bung xung": To act or speak impulsively and without careful thought.
  • Anh ấy hay bung xung nên dễ gây hiểu lầm. (He often speaks impulsively, so it's easy to cause misunderstandings.)

Variants and Related Words

• Bung ra (phrasal verb): The most common form, emphasizing the action of bursting, opening, or leaking out.
• Bung lụa (idiomatic): A poetic/literary term describing flowers (like lotus buds) blooming open.

Synonyms

• Nổ (verb): To explode, to burst (for more violent ruptures).
• Mở tung (verb): To fling/wing open (for doors).
• Ninh nhừ (verb): To stew/braise until very soft (for cooking).
• Bại lộ (verb): To be exposed, to be revealed (for secrets).

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Bung ra: As shown in examples, this is the core phrasal verb covering most meanings: to burst open, to swing open, to be exposed.
• Bung lên: To flare up suddenly (e.g., of emotions, conflicts).
  • Cuộc tranh cãi bung lên bất ngờ. (The argument flared up unexpectedly.)

Related Idioms

• (Cười) bung bét: To laugh uproariously, to laugh one's head off.
  • Nghe câu chuyện hài, cả phòng cười bung bét. (Hearing the funny story, the whole room laughed uproariously.)
• Bung của, bung nhà: (Literally: to burst property/house) To spend lavishly, to splurge.
  • Anh ấy bung của ra để tổ chức đám cưới cho con. (He splurged to organize his child's wedding.)

noun

1. Big cooking pot
   • bung nấu bánh chưng
     a cooking pot for glutinous rice square cakes

verb

1. To burst open
   • thúng đã bung vành
     the rim of the basket has burst
   • chiếc dù bung ra, lơ lửng trên không
     the parachute has burst open and is now hanging in the air
2. To boil to a pulp
   • bung ngô
     to boil maize to a pulp
   • cà bung
     egg-plant boiled soft