cá

Thân thiện

Cậu bé thả những con cá vào trong bể cá mới.

Definitions

1. Noun:

   • Fish: A cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, breathes through gills, and moves using fins. This is the primary and most common meaning.
   • Click, pawl: A small, rigid piece (often metal) that engages with the teeth of a ratchet wheel, allowing it to turn in only one direction. Common in mechanisms like a bicycle freewheel.
   • Steel tip, toe plate: A piece of metal (usually iron or steel) attached to the heel or sole of a leather shoe to prevent wear.
   • Tenon, key (woodworking): A small, often wedge-shaped, piece of wood used to lock a mortise and tenon joint tightly, such as in a coffin.

2. Verb (colloquial):

   • To bet, to wager: To place a bet or make a wager on an outcome.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Fish):
  • Cá nước ngọt sống ở sông và hồ. (Freshwater fish live in rivers and lakes.)
  • Chúng tôi thích đi câu cá vào cuối tuần. (We like to go fishing on weekends.)
• Noun (Pawl/Click):
  • Cá của líp xe đạp bị gãy nên xe không thể đạp được. (The bicycle freewheel's pawl is broken, so the bike cannot be pedaled.)
• Noun (Toe plate):
  • Thợ sửa giày đóng một miếng cá mới vào gót giày của tôi. (The cobbler nailed a new steel tip onto the heel of my shoe.)
• Verb (To bet):
  • Họ cá với nhau xem đội nào sẽ thắng. (They bet with each other on which team would win.)

Advanced Usage

• "cá chậu chim lồng": Literally "fish in a bowl, bird in a cage." An idiom meaning a life without freedom, a confined or restricted existence.
• "cá lớn nuốt cá bé": Literally "big fish swallow small fish." An idiom describing a situation where the powerful dominate or exploit the weak; the law of the jungle.
• "như cá gặp nước": Literally "like a fish meeting water." An idiom meaning to be in one's element, to be perfectly suited to a situation, or to be very happy and comfortable.
• "như cá nằm trên thớt": Literally "like a fish lying on the cutting board." An idiom meaning to be in a critical situation, to be at someone's mercy, or to be helpless.
• "bắt cá hai tay": Literally "to catch fish with both hands." An idiom meaning to try to do two things at once, often leading to failure; to chase two hares at once.

Variants and Related Words

• Cá thể (n): Individual (organism).
• Cá tính (n): Personality, individual character.
• Cá nhân (n/adj): Individual; personal.
• Cá biệt (adj): Isolated, exceptional, particular.
• Cá cược (v/n): To gamble, to bet; gambling, betting (compound word).
• Đánh cá (v): To fish, to go fishing (compound phrase).

Synonyms

• Cá (nghĩa con vật): Tôm cá (seafood, general), thủy sản (aquatic products), hải sản (seafood).
• Cá (nghĩa đánh cuộc): Đánh cược, đặt cược.

Related Phrases/Idioms

• "Ăn cá trả xương": Literally "to eat the fish and return the bones." To enjoy the benefits but avoid the responsibilities or difficulties.
• "Có cá đổ vạ cho cơm": Literally "with fish, one blames the rice for being eaten too much." An excuse for one's actions, blaming an external factor.
• "Nước đục thả câu": Literally "to fish in troubled waters." To take advantage of a confused or chaotic situation for personal gain.

Học thuật

noun

1. Click, pawl
2. Steel tip, toe plate
3. Fish
   • cá nước ngọt
     fresh water fish
   • câu cá
     to fish
   • ao sâu tốt cá
     in the deepest water is the best fishing
   • Cá Tuế
     Minnow
   • Cá Betta
4. (particle denoting fish-like animals living in water)
   • cá sấu
     a crocodile
   • cá voi
     a whale