Definition

1. Noun:
   • Island, islet: A piece of land, typically small, surrounded by water, especially in a river or the sea. This is the primary geographical meaning.
   • Hard labor, toil (of parents): The immense effort, hardship, and sacrifice parents endure in raising and nurturing their children. This is a figurative, cultural meaning derived from classical literature.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Geographical):

  • Chúng tôi đi thuyền ra cù lao. (We took a boat out to the island.)
  • Cù lao Chàm là một điểm du lịch nổi tiếng. (Cham Islands is a famous tourist destination.)

• Noun (Figurative):

  • Con cái không bao giờ quên cù lao của cha mẹ. (Children can never forget the toilsome love of their parents.)
  • Công ơn cù lao trời biển. (The boundless debt of parental care.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used in formal, literary, or proverbial contexts when referring to parental sacrifice. The phrase "chín chữ cù lao" (the nine words of parental toil) is a classical reference to the nine specific hardships a mother endures, symbolizing the totality of parental devotion.

Variants and Related Words

• Đảo (n): A more common and general word for .
• Hòn đảo (n): (often emphasizing a single, distinct landmass).
• Công lao (n): (shares the root "lao" meaning labor).

Synonyms

• Island/Islet: For the geographical meaning.
• Parental sacrifice/toil: For the figurative meaning.
• Labor of love: A conceptual synonym for the parental effort.

Related Idioms

• Chín chữ cù lao: Refers to the nine profound hardships of parenthood, a symbol of a child's unrepayable debt to their parents.
  • Đáp đền sao nổi chín chữ cù lao. (How can one ever repay the ninefold parental toil.)
• Cù lao biển Đông: A poetic way to refer to the islands in the East Sea (South China Sea).

noun

1. Island (fif) hard labour