Definition

Noun: 1. Firewood: Wood that has been cut and prepared for use as fuel for a fire, typically for cooking or heating. 2. (Figurative) High prices: Used metaphorically to describe exorbitant or inflated costs, based on the historical value of firewood as a commodity.

Usage Examples

• Literal (Firewood):
  • Người nông dân chất đống củi sau nhà. (The farmer stacked the firewood behind the house.)
  • Chúng tôi cần tìm củi khô để nhóm lửa trại. (We need to find dry firewood to start the campfire.)
• Figurative (High prices):
  • Giá cả ở khu du lịch này đắt như củi quế gạo châu. (Prices in this tourist area are as high as firewood, cinnamon, rice, and pearls.)

Advanced Usage

• "củi quế gạo châu": A classical four-word idiom meaning "firewood, cinnamon, rice, pearls." It is used to describe things that are extremely expensive or valuable, often in a hyperbolic or literary context.
  • Mặt hàng xa xỉ ấy đúng là củi quế gạo châu, không phải ai cũng mua nổi. (That luxury item is truly priceless, not everyone can afford it.)

Variants and Related Words

• Củi lửa (compound noun): Firewood and fire; often used to refer to the essentials for making a fire.
  • Mang theo đủ củi lửa cho chuyến cắm trại. (Bring enough firewood and fire-starting materials for the camping trip.)
• Kiếm củi / Đi củi (verb phrase): To gather or go to collect firewood.
  • Ông nội thời trẻ thường vào rừng kiếm củi. (My grandfather, when he was young, often went into the forest to gather firewood.)

Synonyms

• Gỗ (noun): Wood (a more general term for the material, not necessarily prepared for fuel).
• Chất đốt (noun): Fuel, combustible material (a broader term that includes firewood, coal, gas, etc.).

Related Idioms

• Chẻ củi (verb phrase): To split firewood.
  • Anh ấy đang chẻ củi ở sân sau. (He is splitting firewood in the backyard.)
• Bổ củi (verb phrase): To chop firewood (similar to ).
  • Công việc bổ củi đòi hỏi sức khỏe. (The work of chopping firewood requires strength.)

noun

1. Wood; fire wood
   • củi quế gạo châu
2. (fig) High prices