Definition

Verb: - To treat with every possible means (a seriously ill person): To actively and persistently seek medical treatment, doctors, or remedies for a sick person, often implying a desperate or exhaustive effort to find a cure, especially for a serious illness.

Usage

This verb describes the active, often urgent, process of seeking medical help. It emphasizes the effort and persistence involved in finding treatment, not just passively receiving it. It is typically used when the illness is serious or prolonged. - It is used to describe the actions of the patient's family or the patient themselves. - It often carries a connotation of desperation, extensive effort, and sometimes futility.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Gia đình đã hết lòng chạy chữa cho bà cụ. (The family exhausted every possible means to treat the elderly woman.)
  • Căn bệnh hiểm nghèo khiến họ phải đi khắp nơi chạy chữa. (The critical illness forced them to go everywhere seeking treatment.)
  • Thầy thuốc đã hết lòng chạy chữa mà bệnh vẫn không giảm. (The doctor tried his utmost to treat [the patient] with every possible means, but the illness still did not subside.)

Advanced Usage

• Implied effort and futility: The word often appears in contexts where, despite great effort, the treatment is unsuccessful or the situation is dire.
  • Chạy chữa khắp nơi nhưng vô phương cứu chữa. (To seek treatment everywhere but to find no cure.)
• Cultural context: It reflects a traditional context where one might seek multiple doctors (both modern and traditional) or remedies.

Variants and Related Words

• Chữa trị (verb): To treat, to cure. This is a more general and neutral term for medical treatment.
• Điều trị (verb): To treat, to undergo treatment. A formal term often used in medical contexts.
• Tầm thuốc (verb): To seek medicine/remedies. An older or more literary phrase with a similar meaning of searching for a cure.

Synonyms

• Tìm cách chữa trị: To seek ways to treat/cure.
• Lo chữa trị: To take care of/get treatment (implies active management).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

Note: As a compound verb, 'chạy chữa' itself functions as a phrasal unit. - Chạy vạy chữa trị: To run around seeking treatment. This intensifies the sense of busy, frantic effort. - Cả nhà chạy vạy chữa trị cho đứa bé. (The whole family ran around exhaustively seeking treatment for the child.)

Related Idioms

• Chạy thầy chạy thuốc: To run to (seek out) doctors and medicine. This idiom is nearly identical in meaning and usage to 'chạy chữa', emphasizing the act of seeking help from various sources.
  • Nghe tin con ốm nặng, anh ấy vội vàng chạy thầy chạy thuốc. (Upon hearing his child was seriously ill, he hurriedly sought out doctors and medicine.)

verb

1. To treat with every possible means (a seriously ill person)
   • thầy thuốc đã hết lòng chạy chữa mà bệnh vẫn không giảm