chạy gạo

chạy gạo

Gia đình ông ấy phải chạy gạo từng ngày.

Definition
  1. Verb phrase:
    • To scramble for rice, to hustle for daily food: The core meaning describes the act of making great effort, often frantically or desperately, to obtain rice (representing basic food or daily sustenance). It implies struggling to secure one's most fundamental living needs.
    • To live hand-to-mouth, to struggle to make ends meet: It extends to describe a state of constant financial struggle, where one must work tirelessly just to afford basic necessities like food for the day.
Usage Examples
  • Verb phrase:
    • Gia đình ông ấy phải chạy gạo từng ngày. (His family has to scramble for rice every single day.)
    • Công việc mất, anh ta lo chạy gạo cho vợ con. (Having lost his job, he is worried about hustling for food for his wife and children.)
    • Cuộc sống chạy gạo khiến họ không có thời gian nghỉ ngơi. (A hand-to-mouth life leaves them no time to rest.)
Advanced Usage

  • "Sống cuộc đời chạy gạo": To live a life of constant struggle for basic sustenance.

    • Sau chiến tranh, nhiều người sống cuộc đời chạy gạo. (After the war, many people lived a life of scrambling for daily food.)

  • "Cảnh chạy gạo": The scene/situation of people struggling for food; a state of precarious living.

    • Phóng viên ghi lại cảnh chạy gạo ở vùng hạn hán. (The reporter captured the scene of people scrambling for food in the drought-stricken area.)
Variants and Related Words

  • Chạy ăn (verb phrase): Literally "to run for food". A very close synonym, also meaning to struggle to earn a living for basic needs.

    • Họ phải chạy ăn từng bữa. (They have to hustle for each meal.)

  • Chạy vạy (verb): To bustle about, to run around (often for money or help). It shares the sense of frantic effort but is broader in context.

    • Bà ấy chạy vạy khắp nơi để vay tiền. (She ran all over the place to borrow money.)
Synonyms
  • Vật lộn kiếm sống: To wrestle to make a living.
  • Lăn lộn mưu sinh: To struggle and toil for survival.
Related Idioms
  • "Đầu tắt mặt tối": (Literally: head extinguished, face dark). An idiom describing being extremely busy from morning till night, often with the connotation of hard work for basic survival, similar to "chạy gạo".
    • Ông bố đầu tắt mặt tối chạy gạo nuôi năm đứa con. (The father works tirelessly from dawn till dusk scrambling to feed his five children.)