Definition

1. Noun (Literary, Figurative):
   • Heaven and earth; the cosmos; the universe: Refers to the natural world or the cosmos as a whole, often personified.
   • (Of grace, virtue, kindness) Immense, as vast as heaven and earth; boundless: Describes something of great magnitude, depth, or profoundness, typically used for abstract concepts like gratitude, merit, or virtue.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Công ơn cha mẹ cao dày như trời biển. (Parental grace is as immense as heaven and ocean.)
  • Lòng thành kính với bề trên cao dày. (The reverence for one's elders is profound.)
  • Ơn nghĩa cao dày khó mà đền đáp. (Such immense kindness is hard to repay.)

Advanced Usage

• Often used in formal, literary, or poetic contexts to convey deep respect or the vast scale of something abstract. It can personify heaven and earth as witnesses or judges.
  • Thề với cao dày. (To swear to heaven and earth.)

Variants and Related Words

• Trời cao đất dày: A more explicit synonym meaning "high heaven and thick earth," used similarly to refer to the cosmos or as a witness.
  • Có trời cao đất dày chứng giám. (May high heaven and thick earth bear witness.)

Synonyms

• Heaven and earth: The sky and the ground; the universe.
• The cosmos: The universe seen as a well-ordered whole.
• Immense: Extremely large or great, especially in scale or degree.
• Boundless: Unlimited or immense.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Ơn cao nghĩa dày: An idiom meaning "high grace and thick meaning," used to describe deep, profound gratitude or indebtedness.
  • Mang ơn cao nghĩa dày của thầy. (To bear the profound debt of gratitude to one's teacher.)

1. Heaven and earth
2. nói về công ơn, công đức) Heaven-high and earth-thick, immense