chối tai
Definition
- Adjective:
- Unpleasant to hear, grating on the ear: Describes sounds, words, or speech that are harsh, dissonant, or offensive to the sense of hearing. It implies a jarring or irritating auditory experience.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Tiếng cào móng tay trên bảng đen thật chối tai. (The sound of nails scratching a blackboard is very grating/unpleasant to hear.)
- Lời nói thô tục của anh ta nghe thật chối tai. (His vulgar words are very jarring to the ear.)
- Âm thanh hỗn độn từ công trường xây dựng thật sự chối tai. (The chaotic noise from the construction site is truly unpleasant to the ear.)
Advanced Usage
- "chói tai" vs. "chối tai": While both relate to unpleasant sounds, "chói tai" often refers to sounds that are painfully loud or shrill (e.g., a high-pitched scream), whereas "chối tai" emphasizes the quality of being discordant, harsh, or offensive in content or tone.
- Tiếng còi xe chói tai. (The blaring car horn is piercingly loud.)
- Lời phê bình ác ý nghe chối tai. (The malicious criticism sounds offensive/harsh.)
Variants and Related Words
- Chói tai (adj): Piercingly loud, shrill, causing auditory discomfort due to high volume or pitch.
- Nghễnh ngãng (adj): Hard of hearing, but sometimes used colloquially to express that something is difficult or unpleasant to listen to.
- Khó nghe (adj): Difficult to hear, or figuratively, hard to accept/unpleasant to listen to (can be a close synonym in some contexts).
Synonyms
- Khó chịu (adj): Uncomfortable, irritating (can apply to various senses, including hearing).
- Gai người (adj): Making one's skin crawl (often used for unpleasant sounds or feelings).
- Lộn tiếng (adj): Dissonant, discordant (specifically for clashing sounds).
Related Phrases/Idioms
- Chua ngoa chối tai: Describes speech that is both sharp-tongued ("chua ngoa") and grating/offensive to hear.
- Bà ta nói năng chua ngoa chối tai. (She speaks in a sharp-tongued and grating manner.)
- Nghe chối cả tai: An emphatic phrase meaning "to find it extremely unpleasant to listen to."
- Nghe những lời đơm đặt ấy, tôi chối cả tai. (Listening to those fabrications, I found it extremely offensive to the ear.)