Definition

Noun: 1. The leg (specifically the lower leg): Refers to the part of the lower limb from the knee to the ankle in humans. 2. The leg of an animal: Refers to the limb of an animal, often used for certain livestock or poultry. 3. The stem or stalk of a plant: Refers to the woody, lower part of the stem of some small plants or shrubs.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Human leg):
  • Anh ấy bị đau cẳng chân. (He has a sore leg.)
  • Đi bộ cả ngày khiến tôi mỏi cẳng. (Walking all day makes my legs tired.)
• Noun (Animal leg):
  • Món cẳng gà chiên mắm rất ngon. (Fried chicken legs with fish sauce are delicious.)
  • Con chó bị gãy cẳng. (The dog has a broken leg.)
• Noun (Plant stalk):
  • Bà tôi thường phơi khô cẳng cà để đun bếp. (My grandmother often dries tomato stalks to use as firewood.)

Advanced Usage

• "co cẳng chạy": To run away as fast as one's legs can carry; to flee, to take to one's heels.
  • Thấy chủ nhà về, tên trộm co cẳng chạy. (Seeing the homeowner return, the thief took to his heels.)
• "bó cẳng": Literally "to bind the legs"; to be tied down, confined, or restricted (e.g., by work, responsibility, or circumstance).
  • Công việc bó cẳng tôi ở nhà cả tuần. (Work confined me to the house all week.)

Variants and Related Words

• Cẳng chân (n): The leg (more specific, emphasizes the lower leg). Often used interchangeably with "cẳng".
• Cẳng tay (n): The forearm (the part of the arm from the elbow to the wrist). This is a related compound using "cẳng" to mean a limb segment.
• Chân (n): The foot; or the entire leg. A broader term. "Cẳng" is a more specific part of the "chân".

Synonyms

• Ống chân (n): The shin (specifically the front part of the lower leg).
• Chân (n): Leg/foot (general term).
• Giò (n): Leg (commonly used for animal legs in culinary contexts, e.g., giò heo - pork hock).

Related Phrases (Idioms/Collocations)

• Dài cẳng: Long-legged.
  • Anh ấy dài cẳng nên chạy rất nhanh. (He is long-legged so he runs very fast.)
• Ngắn cẳng: Short-legged.
• Cứng cẳng: Stiff-legged; inflexible (can be used literally or figuratively for stubbornness).
  • Ông ấy cứng cẳng, không chịu nghe lời khuyên của ai. (He is stubborn, refusing to listen to anyone's advice.)

noun

1. Pin, shank, leg
   • co cẳng chạy
     to put one's best leg foremost, to take to one's pins
   • bó cẳng ở nhà
     to have to stay home with one's pins bound (by work..), to be confined to one's home