chết chóc
Definition
Verb:
- To die: The primary meaning of "chết chóc" is to cease to live; to undergo the permanent cessation of all biological functions. It is a general and often blunt term for death.
- To be dead: Used to describe the state of having died.
Noun:
- Death / Mortality: Refers to the event or fact of dying, or the state of being dead. It often carries a connotation of widespread or frequent death, implying fatality and loss of life.
Usage Examples
- Verb:
- Chiến tranh khiến hàng ngàn người chết chóc. (The war caused thousands of people to die.)
- Noun:
- Nơi đây chứng kiến quá nhiều chết chóc. (This place has witnessed too much death.)
- Cảnh tượng đầy chết chóc. (A scene full of mortality.)
Advanced Usage
- The word "chết chóc" is often used in contexts describing tragedy, war, disaster, or epidemics to emphasize the scale, inevitability, or grim reality of death. It is more dramatic and weighty than the neutral word "cái chết."
- It can function as an adjective-like modifier in compound structures to mean "fatal" or "deadly," though this is an extension of its nominal use.
Variants and Related Words
- Chết (v): to die. The root and more common, neutral verb.
- Tử vong (v/n): to perish; death (often used in formal or statistical contexts, e.g., casualty figures).
- Cái chết (n): death (the abstract concept or a specific instance of dying).
Synonyms
- To die: to perish, to pass away (softer), to expire.
- Death: fatality, mortality, demise.
Related Idioms and Phrases
- Gieo rắc chết chóc: to sow death; to cause widespread death.
- Bệnh dịch gieo rắc chết chóc khắp vùng. (The epidemic sowed death throughout the region.)
- Chết chóc tang thương: a phrase describing a scene of devastating death and tragedy.
- Sau trận động đất là cảnh chết chóc tang thương. (After the earthquake was a scene of devastating death and tragedy.)
verb
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To die
