Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Stunted, shrivelled, wizened: Describes something, often a part of the body or a plant, that is unusually small, underdeveloped, or has a wrinkled, contracted appearance due to age, poor growth, or lack of vitality.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Mặt ông cụ trông thật choắt vì tuổi già. (The old man's face looks very wizened due to old age.)
  • Cây cối trong vùng đất khô cằn này mọc lên nhỏ choắt. (The trees in this arid region grow up stunted.)
  • Nó có dáng người nhỏ choắt. (He/She has a stunted physique.)

Advanced Usage

• The adjective choắt is often used in its reduplicated form choắt choắt or choăn choắt to express a lesser degree or a more descriptive nuance, meaning "rather small and shrivelled" or "tiny and wrinkled."
  • Đứa bé mới sinh, bàn tay còn choắt choắt. (The newborn baby's hands are still all tiny and wrinkled.)
  • Bà lão có khuôn mặt choăn choắt. (The old woman has a somewhat shrivelled face.)

Variants and Related Words

• Choắt choắt / Choăn choắt (adj): The reduplicated forms, which soften the intensity, often implying a certain (sometimes endearing) smallness or delicacy rather than severe stunting.
• Còi cọc (adj): Stunted, runty (often used for plants or animals, emphasizing poor growth due to lack of nutrients).
• Nhăn nheo (adj): Wrinkled, creased (focuses on the surface texture rather than overall small size).
• Bé tí (adj): Very tiny, minute (neutral in connotation, not implying malformation or withering).

Synonyms

• Teo tóp: Shrivelled, shrunken (often due to drying out or illness).
• Khô quắt: Withered, dried up (like a leaf).
• Cụt ngủn: Stubby, very short (often for limbs or objects).

Notes on Meaning

• choắt primarily describes a physical state of being small and contracted, often with a negative connotation of being underdeveloped, withered, or lacking robustness. It is not typically used for temporary states but for inherent or lasting characteristics.
• It is commonly used to describe facial features (mặt choắt), body build (người choắt), or the size of limbs (tay chân choắt).

adj

1. Stunted, shrivelled
   • mặt choắt
     a shrivelled face
   • khổ người nhỏ choắt
     a body of stunted proportions