Definition

1. Noun:
   • Favor, benefit, kindness: Refers to a good deed, help, or kindness that someone has done for another person, often creating a moral debt of gratitude.
   • Merit, contribution: Denotes significant contributions or merits, especially in building, creating, or developing something for the community or country.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Tôi không bao giờ quên công ơn của thầy cô. (I will never forget the kindness/favor of my teachers.)
  • Nhân dân ghi nhớ công ơn của các anh hùng. (The people remember the merit/contribution of the heroes.)
  • Con cái phải biết ơn công ơn sinh thành của cha mẹ. (Children must be grateful for the favor of being born and raised by their parents.)

Advanced Usage

• "Mang ơn": to be indebted to someone, to owe a favor.
  • Tôi mang ơn ông ấy suốt đời. (I am indebted to him for life.)
• "Đền ơn đáp nghĩa" / "Báo ơn": to repay a favor, to show gratitude.
  • Anh ấy đã trở về để báo ơn người đã cứu mình. (He returned to repay the favor to the person who saved him.)

Variants and Related Words

• Ơn (n): favor, grace, mercy. Often used in a more spiritual or formal context (e.g., - heaven's grace, - God's grace).
• Ân (n): favor, grace. Similar to but often found in Sino-Vietnamese compounds (e.g., - benefactor).
• Ân nghĩa (n): kindness and righteousness; deep favor and moral obligation.
• Công lao (n): merit, effort, achievement. Focuses more on the labor and effort expended.

Synonyms

• Ơn huệ: favor, benefaction (more formal/literary).
• Ân tình: favor and sentiment; kindness involving deep feeling.

Related Phrases

• Uống nước nhớ nguồn: (Idiom) Literally "When drinking water, remember its source." Means to be grateful to one's origins and benefactors.
• Ăn quả nhớ kẻ trồng cây: (Idiom) Literally "When eating the fruit, remember the planter." Similar to the above, reminding one to be grateful to those who created the conditions for one's benefit.

Related Idioms

• Công ơn trời biển: (Idiom) Literally "Favor/Merit as vast as the sky and sea." Describes an immense, immeasurable debt of gratitude.
  • Công ơn sinh thành của cha mẹ như công ơn trời biển. (The favor of being born and raised by parents is as vast as the sky and sea.)