Definition

1. Verb (archaic):
   • To mark with lime. Specifically, to apply lime paste to a person's skin, particularly the nape of the neck, as a form of public shaming and punishment.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Người phụ nữ bị bắt tội và phải chịu hình phạt bôi vôi. (The woman was found guilty and had to suffer the punishment of being marked with lime.)
  • Hình phạt gọt gáy bôi vôi là một nhục hình đối với người phạm tội. (The punishment of shaving the head and marking with lime was a humiliation for the offender.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is almost exclusively used in the historical, fixed phrase "gọt gáy bôi vôi", which describes the full punishment: shaving the head (specifically the nape) and then marking the shaved skin with lime paste.
  • Trong xã hội phong kiến, gọt gáy bôi vôi là hình phạt dành cho những người phụ nữ ngoại tình. (In feudal society, shaving the nape and marking it with lime was a punishment for adulterous women.)

Variants and Related Words

• Gọt gáy bôi vôi (idiomatic phrase): To shave the nape and mark it with lime. This is the complete expression where "bôi vôi" is most commonly found.

Synonyms

• To brand (figuratively): To mark as a sign of disgrace.
• To stigmatize: To describe someone or something as worthy of disgrace.
• To shame publicly: To humiliate someone in public.

Related Idioms

• Gọt gáy bôi vôi: This is the primary idiom. It signifies a severe, humiliating public punishment intended to permanently disgrace the offender, particularly women accused of adultery in historical Vietnamese context.
  • Câu chuyện cổ tích thường nhắc đến nhân vật phản diện bị kết án gọt gáy bôi vôi. (Folk tales often mention villains sentenced to have their napes shaved and marked with lime.)

1. (từ cũ, nghĩa cũ) (Gọt gáy bôi vôi) To have one's nape shaven and marked with lime (a punishment which adulteresses were subjected to)