Definition

Adjective/Adverb (tính từ/trạng từ): - Shivering uncontrollably (with teeth chattering): Describes the state of trembling or shaking intensely, typically from extreme cold or fear, to the point where one's teeth repeatedly knock together, producing a clattering sound.

Usage Examples

• As an adjective/adverb (often follows the verb "run"):
  • Trời lạnh quá, anh ấy run cầm cập. (It's so cold, he is shivering uncontrollably.)
  • Đứa bé sợ hãi, đứng run cầm cập trong góc phòng. (The child was terrified, standing and shivering in the corner of the room.)

Advanced Usage

• "Run cầm cập": This is the most common and fixed collocation. The word "cầm cập" almost always follows the verb "run" (to shiver/tremble) to intensify the description.
  • Sau khi tắm nước lạnh, nó run cầm cập cả giờ. (After taking a cold shower, he shivered for a whole hour.)

Variants and Related Words

• Run (v): to shiver, to tremble.
  • run rẩy: to tremble (often from fear or cold).
  • run lập cập: to shiver, to chatter (teeth). This is a close synonym with a very similar meaning and sound.

Synonyms

• Run lập cập: to shiver, to have chattering teeth.
• Run bần bật: to tremble, to shiver (can imply convulsive shaking).

Related Idioms/Phrases

• Run như cầy sấy: To shiver as if being dried over a fire (a vivid idiom for intense shivering). This is more informal and vivid than "run cầm cập".
  • Nó ngồi trong phòng lạnh run như cầy sấy. (He sat in the cold room shivering intensely.)

1. To clatter
   • run cầm cập
     to shiver (with teeth clattering)