Definition

1. Noun:
   • Water fern, duckweed: A generic term for various species of small, free-floating aquatic plants, often forming dense mats on the surface of calm water. Traditionally used as animal feed or green manure.
   • Metaphor for something cheap, insignificant, or adrift: Used figuratively to describe something of very low value or a life/person drifting without control, subject to circumstances.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Literal):

  • Mặt hồ phủ đầy bèo. (The lake surface is covered with duckweed.)
  • Người nông dân vớt bèo về cho lợn ăn. (The farmer scoops up water fern to feed the pigs.)

• Noun (Figurative):

  • Chiếc áo này rẻ như bèo. (This shirt is dirt-cheap [cheap as duckweed].)
  • Cuộc đời nàng như cánh bèo trôi dạt. (Her life is like a drifting piece of duckweed.)

Advanced Usage

• "nước chảy bèo trôi": Literally "water flows, duckweed drifts." Figuratively means to go with the flow, to drift along with events, often implying a lack of control or direction in life.

  • Anh ấy sống một cuộc đời nước chảy bèo trôi. (He lives a life that just drifts along.)

• "ao cạn, bèo xuống đất" / "cạn ao bèo đến đất": Literally "when the pond dries up, the duckweed reaches the ground." An idiom meaning "everything comes to those who wait" or that all things find their place in time.

Variants and Related Words

• Bèo cái: A specific type of larger duckweed (e.g., ).
• Bèo tấm: A specific type of tiny duckweed (e.g., ).
• Bèo hoa dâu: Azolla (a type of aquatic fern).
• Bèo dạt mây trôi: A poetic phrase meaning "duckweed adrift, clouds floating," describing a rootless, wandering existence.

Synonyms

• Lục bình / bèo tây: Water hyacinth (a different, larger floating aquatic plant, but often colloquially grouped with or confused with ).
• Vật tầm thường / vô giá trị: Something trivial/insignificant or worthless (for the figurative meaning).

Related Phrases / Idioms

• Rẻ như bèo: Dirt-cheap; as cheap as duckweed (extremely inexpensive).

  • Chợ cóc bán đồ rẻ như bèo. (The roadside market sells things dirt-cheap.)

• Hoa trôi bèo giạt: Literally "flowers drifting, duckweed scattered." Used poetically, especially in older literature, to describe the precarious and wandering fate of a woman's life.

• Bèo trôi sóng vỗ: Literally "duckweed drifting, waves beating." Describes a wandering life full of vicissitudes and hardships.

1. Water-fern
   • Thả bèo
     To float water-fern, to grow water-fern (on a pond)
   • Vì chưng bác mẹ tôi nghèo, cho nên tôi phải băm bèo, thái khoai (ca dao)
     Because my folks are poor, I have to chop up water-fern and slice sweet potato
   • Rẻ như bèo
     Dirt-cheap