Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Impoverished; destitute: Describes a state of extreme poverty and hardship, specifically suffering from both hunger ("cơ") and cold ("hàn"). It conveys a condition of lacking basic necessities like food and warm clothing.
   • Hardscrabble; poverty-stricken: Pertains to a life of constant struggle against want and deprivation.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Tuổi thơ cơ hàn đã rèn luyện ý chí của ông ấy. (An impoverished childhood forged his willpower.)
  • Họ sống một cuộc sống cơ hàn trong căn nhà tồi tàn. (They lived a destitute life in a dilapidated house.)
  • Câu chuyện kể về một gia đình cơ hàn. (The story is about a poverty-stricken family.)

Advanced Usage

• Often used in literary or formal contexts to evoke a strong sense of sympathy for profound suffering and material lack. It is more evocative than common words for poverty like "nghèo".

Variants and Related Words

• Cơ cực (adj): arduous, full of hardship and misery.

  • Đời sống cơ cực. (A life of hardship.)

• Hàn vi (adj/state): humble and poor circumstances, especially in one's early life before success.

  • Thuở hàn vi. (The time of humble beginnings.)

Synonyms

• Destitute: lacking the means of subsistence.
• Impoverished: reduced to poverty.
• Needy: in need of basic necessities.
• Penurious: extremely poor; poverty-stricken.

Related Idioms

• Cơm không lành, canh không ngọt: (lit. Rice isn't nice, soup isn't sweet) Describes a state of poverty where even basic meals are unsatisfactory.

  • Cuộc sống cơ hàn, cơm không lành canh không ngọt. (A destitute life where nothing is satisfactory.)

• Đói rét: (lit. hungry and cold) A simpler, more direct phrase for suffering hunger and cold.

  • Chống lại cái đói rét mùa đông. (To fight against the winter hunger and cold.)