Definition

Adjective: - Ungrateful; thankless: Describes a person who does not appreciate or reciprocate kindness, affection, or favors received; someone who betrays loyalty or a sense of obligation.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Anh ta thật là bạc nghĩa, quên hết công ơn của người đã giúp đỡ mình. (He is truly ungrateful, forgetting all the favors of the person who helped him.)
  • Đừng trở thành kẻ bạc nghĩa với những người đã nuôi dưỡng mình. (Don't become a thankless person towards those who raised you.)

Advanced Usage

• "bạc tình bạc nghĩa": A common, intensified phrase meaning "to be unfaithful and ungrateful" in a relationship context.
  • Sau bao năm chung sống, anh ta lại bạc tình bạc nghĩa. (After so many years together, he turned out to be unfaithful and ungrateful.)

Variants and Related Words

• Bạc (adj): Literally "thin" or "pale," but figuratively used to form compounds meaning "to treat poorly" or "to be unfaithful" (e.g., - unfaithful in love, - cold and unkind).
• Vô ơn (adj): A direct synonym meaning "ungrateful."

Synonyms

• Vô ơn: Ungrateful.
• Phụ bạc: To betray, to be disloyal (often used similarly in emotional contexts).

Related Idioms

• Ăn cháo đá bát: Literally "to eat the porridge and kick the bowl." This idiom vividly describes the act of being bạc nghĩa—benefiting from someone's help and then harming or showing disrespect to them.
  • Hắn đúng là loại người ăn cháo đá bát. (He is exactly the kind of person who bites the hand that feeds him.)

adjective

1. ungrateful; thankless