Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Shabby, slovenly, unkempt: Describes a person's appearance as messy, untidy, or worn-out, often due to neglect.
   • Dissolute, debauched: Describes a person's way of life as morally corrupt, characterized by excessive indulgence in vices like drinking, gambling, or promiscuity.

2. Verb:

   • To lead a dissolute life, to wallow in vice: To plunge into or indulge excessively in a life of dissipation and moral neglect.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Anh ta ăn mặc bê tha. (He is shabbily dressed.)
  • Cuộc sống bê tha của hắn khiến gia đình xấu hổ. (His dissolute life shames his family.)
• Verb:
  • Sau khi thất bại, anh ấy bắt đầu bê tha trong rượu chè. (After the failure, he began to wallow in drinking.)

Advanced Usage

• The word often carries a strong negative moral judgment, implying a loss of dignity or character due to neglect of oneself or one's social duties.
• It can describe both a temporary state (e.g., a shabby appearance) and a permanent, ingrained lifestyle (e.g., a debauched existence).

Variants and Related Words

• Bệ rạc (adj): A close synonym meaning shabby, slovenly, or dilapidated.
• Trụy lạc (adj/verb): Specifically refers to depravity and decadence, often with a connotation of sexual vice.

Synonyms

• Shabby, unkempt (for appearance).
• Dissolute, debauched, depraved (for lifestyle).
• To carouse, to debauch (for the verb form).

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Sống bê tha: To live a dissolute life.
  • Hắn sống bê tha suốt những năm tháng tuổi trẻ. (He lived a dissolute life throughout his youth.)
• Bê tha rượu chè: To be addicted to/alcoholic; to wallow in drinking.
  • Cảnh bê tha rượu chè nơi quán bar. (The scene of debauchery and drinking in the bar.)

verb

1. To plunge into dissipation, to wallow in debauchery

adj

1. Shabby
   • ăn mặc bê tha
     to be shabbily dressed