cay cú
Definition
- Adjective:
- Revengeful and bent on recouping one's losses: Describes a state of bitter resentment, especially after a loss or defeat, leading to a stubborn determination to get even or win back what was lost. This is the core meaning, often characterizing a sore loser.
- Sore / Bitter: Having a feeling of sharp resentment, anger, or humiliation due to failure or unfair treatment.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Anh ta là một con bạc cay cú. (He is a revengeful gambler / a sore loser gambler.)
- Càng thua, hắn càng cay cú. (The more he lost, the more revengeful he became.)
- Đội bóng thua trận với thái độ cay cú. (The football team lost the match with a bitter, sore-loser attitude.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is strongly associated with gambling and competitive contexts but can be applied to any situation involving loss or perceived injustice that provokes a stubborn, resentful reaction.
- It implies a cyclical behavior: the initial loss causes bitterness (), which fuels a compulsive desire to continue (), often leading to further losses.
Variants and Related Words
- Cay (adj): Literally "spicy" or "hot," figuratively meaning bitter, resentful, or stinging (as in a defeat).
- Cú (adj, colloquial): Stubbornly persistent, dogged. When combined with , it intensifies the meaning of stubborn bitterness.
Synonyms
- Revengeful: Eager for revenge.
- Sore loser: A person who becomes angry or bitter after losing.
- Bitter: Feeling anger and resentment.
- Spiteful: Showing malicious ill will.
Related Idioms and Phrases
- Cay cú thua đau: To be bitterly resentful after a painful loss.
- Sau trận thua đó, anh ấy cay cú thua đau. (After that defeat, he was bitterly resentful of the painful loss.)
- The word itself often functions as a vivid idiomatic descriptor for a specific type of stubborn, embittered mentality.
adj
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Revengeful and bent on recoup one's losses (like a bad loser)
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con bạc cay cúa bad loser gambler
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càng thua càng cay cúthe more he lost, the worse loser he became
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