chừ bự
Definition
- Adjective:
- Swollen with anger/displeasure (of the face): Describes a facial expression that appears puffed up or bloated due to being upset, sullen, or holding in resentment. It implies a visible physical manifestation of internal discontent.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Sao mặt nó chừ bự vậy? Có ai làm gì nó đâu? (Why does his face look so swollen with anger? No one did anything to him.)
- Đừng có giận mà mặt chừ bự ra thế, xấu lắm. (Don't be angry and puff your face out like that, it looks very bad.)
- Nghe tin đó xong, bà ấy ngồi im, mặt chừ bự cả buổi. (After hearing that news, she sat silently, her face sullen and puffed up for the whole afternoon.)
Advanced Usage Notes
- Regional/Dialectal Use: "Chừ bự" is primarily used in Southern Vietnamese dialects. It is considered a colloquial and somewhat vivid descriptive term.
- Nuance: The word strongly conveys a childish, sulky, or petulant kind of anger, often associated with pouting or making a face because one did not get their way. It's less about intense rage and more about visible, sustained sulkiness.
- Typical Context: Used to describe someone (often a child or someone acting childishly) who is visibly upset and showing it through their facial expression, often with cheeks puffed out or lips pursed.
Variants and Related Words
- Bự (adj): Big, large, swollen. In this compound, it contributes the meaning of "swollen" or "puffed up."
- Chừ (adv, dialect): A Southern Vietnamese particle often used for emphasis or to indicate a current state, similar to "vậy" (like that). Here, it forms the adjectival phrase "chừ bự."
- Hầm hầm (adj): Fuming, seething with anger (more about the heated emotion than the puffed-up appearance).
- Cáu kỉnh (adj): Irritable, grumpy (focuses on the irritable mood).
Synonyms
- Sưng sỉa (adj): Sullen, sulky (with a connotation of being offended and showing it).
- Bĩu môi (v): To pout (the action of pushing out one's lips to show displeasure).
- Mặt sưng (phrase): Swollen face (more literal, can be from injury or crying, not exclusively anger).
Related Idioms and Phrases
- Giận đến phát bự (idiom, Southern dialect): To be so angry one becomes puffed up/swollen. This is an extended, more emphatic form expressing extreme sulky anger.
- Đứa nhỏ giận đến phát bự vì không được mua đồ chơi. (The child was furious and puffed up with anger because he didn't get to buy a toy.)