con đĩ
Definition
- Noun:
- Prostitute, whore: A vulgar and highly offensive term for a woman who engages in sexual activity for payment.
- (Archaic, dialectal) Girl, lass: An archaic and rustic familiar term for a young girl or daughter. This usage is now largely obsolete and considered very coarse.
Usage Examples
Noun (Prostitute):
- Hắn gọi cô ấy là "con đĩ". (He called her a "whore".)
- Từ "con đĩ" là một lời lăng mạ rất nặng nề. (The word "con đĩ" is a very severe insult.)
Noun (Archaic: Girl): This usage is historical and not recommended for modern communication.
- "Con đĩ ấy chăn vịt rất giỏi." (Historical/folk context) (That lass is very good at herding ducks.)
Advanced Usage Notes
- Severity of Offense: This term is an extreme vulgarism and profanity in modern Vietnamese. Its use is deeply insulting and demeaning. It is unacceptable in polite, formal, or standard communication.
- Sociolinguistic Context: Its primary modern function is as a swear word to express intense contempt, anger, or to severely insult a woman's character, often with misogynistic intent. It is not a neutral term for "sex worker."
- Historical Linguistic Shift: The word has undergone pejoration, meaning its meaning has worsened over time. The older, neutral meaning of "young girl" has completely faded in mainstream modern usage, replaced entirely by the offensive meaning.
Variants and Related Words
- Đĩ (n): The root word, equally offensive. "Con đĩ" is more common as an insult.
- Gái mại dâm (n): Sex worker (neutral, formal term).
- Gái làng chơi (n): A more colloquial, but still somewhat derogatory, term for a prostitute.
- Gái (n): Girl, woman. A neutral noun, often combined with other words (e.g., - young woman).
Synonyms (for the primary offensive meaning)
- Whore: (English equivalent in offensiveness).
- Prostitute: (Neutral/formal term for the profession, not the insult).
- Slut: (A different but similarly offensive English term focusing on perceived promiscuity).
Related Phrases/Idioms
- Đĩ thoã (Adj/Phrase): An intensified, even more vulgar and offensive compound term.
- Mặt dày như đĩ: (Idiom) Literally "face as thick as a prostitute's," meaning shameless, brazen, or having no sense of shame.
- Hắn ta mặt dày như đĩ, chẳng biết xấu hổ là gì. (He is utterly shameless, doesn't know what embarrassment is.)
- Làm đĩ: (Verb phrase) To act like a prostitute; to engage in prostitution.
- Bà ta chửi con gái mình là đang làm đĩ. (She cursed at her daughter, saying she was acting like a whore.)