Definition

Adjective: - Dead drunk, completely intoxicated: Describes a state of extreme drunkenness where a person is completely unconscious or incapacitated due to alcohol consumption. It is a colloquial and somewhat vulgar term.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau bữa tiệc, anh ấy say bí tỉ và phải đưa về nhà. (After the party, he was dead drunk and had to be taken home.)
  • Nhóm bạn uống rượu đến mức bí tỉ. (The group of friends drank until they were completely insensible.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used in informal, spoken Vietnamese and carries a strong connotation. It is not appropriate for formal writing or polite conversation.
• It can be used to emphasize the severity of intoxication, beyond just being drunk ().

Variants and Related Words

• Say (adj): Drunk, intoxicated. This is the standard, more neutral term for being drunk.
  • Anh ấy say rượu. (He is drunk.)
• Quắc cần câu (idiom, adj): An idiom meaning extremely drunk (literally: the fishing rod is bent).
  • Ông ấy uống đến mức quắc cần câu. (He drank until he was completely plastered.)

Synonyms

• Say mèm: Very drunk, dead drunk (colloquial).
• Say bí bét: Completely drunk, smashed (colloquial).
• Say không biết trời đất: Drunk to the point of oblivion (idiomatic).

Related Idioms

• Say khướt: Very drunk.
  • Tối qua nó say khướt, về nhà không nổi. (Last night he was completely smashed, couldn't get home.)
• Rượu chè bí tỉ: The act of drinking oneself into a stupor.
  • Cả ngày chỉ biết rượu chè bí tỉ. (All day long, he just knows how to drink himself into oblivion.)

adj

1. Dead drunk
   • rượu chè bí tỉ
     to drink oneself to insensibility
   • say bí tỉ
     to be dead drunk