Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Toddling; taking one's first unsteady steps: Describes the unsteady, faltering manner of walking typical of a young child who is just learning to walk.
   • Figurative: Beginner, novice, green: Used to describe someone who is just starting in a field, skill, or profession and is therefore inexperienced and unsteady, like a toddler.

2. Adverb:

   • Toddlingly; unsteadily: Describes an action performed in a faltering, hesitant, or unstable manner.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Em bé mới chập chững biết đi. (The baby has just started toddling.)
  • Anh ấy còn chập chững trong nghề. (He is still a novice in the trade.)
• Adverb:
  • Đứa trẻ tập đi từng bước chập chững. (The child learns to walk by taking toddling steps.)

Advanced Usage

• The word is inherently descriptive and is most commonly used with verbs related to walking or beginning. Its figurative use to describe a beginner is well-established and natural in Vietnamese.

Variants and Related Words

• Tập đi (v): to learn to walk.
  • Giai đoạn trẻ tập đi rất quan trọng. (The toddler stage is very important.)
• Lẫm chẫm (adj/adv): a close synonym meaning toddling or tottering, often used interchangeably with .

Synonyms

• Toddling: (for the literal meaning).
• Unsteady: lacking stability.
• Beginner/Novice/Green: (for the figurative meaning).

Related Idioms

• Chập chững những bước đầu: to take one's first faltering steps (can be used literally or figuratively).
  • Công ty chập chững những bước đầu trên thị trường quốc tế. (The company took its first faltering steps in the international market.)

adj

1. Toddling
   • tập đi từng bước chập chững
     to learn how to walk by toddling
   • em bé mới chập chững biết đi
     the baby still toddles, the child is a toddler
   • còn chập chững trong nghề
     still a toddler in the trade, still a green born in the trade