Definition

1. Verb:
   • To plough (a field) when it is flooded/waterlogged: This term specifically refers to the agricultural action of tilling or ploughing a rice paddy or field that is submerged under water.
   • To work a flooded rice field: It describes the labor-intensive process of preparing a water-covered field for planting, typically rice.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Nông dân phải cày dầm ruộng trước khi cấy lúa. (Farmers have to plough the flooded field before transplanting rice seedlings.)
  • Cày dầm là công việc vất vả nhất trong mùa vụ.* (Ploughing a waterlogged field is the hardest work of the crop season.)
  • Chiếc máy cấy mới có thể hoạt động ngay trên những thửa ruộng vừa được cày dầm. (The new transplanter can operate right on the fields that have just been ploughed while flooded.)

Advanced Usage

• The term "cày dầm" is highly specific to wet-rice cultivation culture. It implies not just ploughing, but doing so under the challenging condition of standing water, which distinguishes it from dry-field ploughing ("cày cạn").
• It often connotes hardship, manual labor, and traditional farming methods.

Variants and Related Words

• Cày (verb): To plough. This is the general term.
• Cày cạn (verb): To plough a dry field.
• Bừa dầm (verb): To harrow a flooded field (the step often following "cày dầm").

Synonyms

• Cày ruộng nước (verb phrase): To plough a water field. (A more descriptive synonym)
• Làm đất ngập nước (verb phrase): To work/till waterlogged land. (A more general synonym)

Related Phrases

• Một nắng hai sương, *cày dầm bừa sục* (Idiom/Proverb): "Through sun and dew, ploughing flooded fields and harrowing mud." This idiom describes the extreme diligence and hardship of farmers' lives.

1. Plough (the land) when it is overflowed