Definition

1. Noun:

   • Plough: A farming tool pulled by animals (like buffaloes or oxen) or a machine (like a tractor) used to turn over and break up soil for planting.

2. Verb:

   • To plough: The primary action of using a plough to prepare land for cultivation.
   • To churn up / To devastate: Used metaphorically to describe something powerful (like bombs, tanks, or heavy machinery) tearing up and destroying a surface or area.
   • To grind / To work hard at: In colloquial usage, it means to work on something diligently, persistently, and often exhaustively for a long period.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Con trâu đang kéo cày. (The buffalo is pulling the plough.)
• Verb:
  • Bác nông dân cày ruộng từ sáng sớm. (The farmer ploughed the field from early morning.)
  • Xe tăng cày nát con đường. (The tanks churned up the road.)
  • Cậu ấy cày bài cả đêm để chuẩn bị cho kỳ thi. (He grinded at his lessons all night to prepare for the exam.)

Advanced Usage

• "cày sâu bừa kỹ": Literally "to plough deep and harrow carefully." It means to prepare something meticulously and thoroughly, leaving no detail unattended.

  • Muốn có vụ mùa tốt phải cày sâu bừa kỹ. (To have a good crop, you must prepare the soil meticulously.)

• "cày cuốc": Literally "to plough and hoe." It refers to the hard, manual labor of farming, often symbolizing a simple, rustic life.

  • Cuộc sống cày cuốc vất vả nhưng thanh bình. (The life of farming is hard but peaceful.)

Variants and Related Words

• Cày máy (n): Tractor-pulled plough.
• Cày ải (v): To plough a field and leave it fallow to weather.
• Cày xới (v): To plough and till; often used both literally and figuratively to mean to dig into or investigate something thoroughly.

Synonyms

• Plough (v): To turn over soil.
• Till (v): To prepare land for crops.
• Grind (v, informal): To work or study with great effort.
• Devastate (v): To lay waste to.

Related Idioms

• "Tay cày, tay súng": Literally "a rifle in one hand, a plough in the other." It symbolizes peasants' readiness to both produce food and fight to defend their land.

  • Tinh thần "tay cày, tay súng" trong thời kỳ kháng chiến. (The "rifle in one hand, plough in the other" spirit during the resistance period.)

• "Cày như trâu": Literally "to plough like a buffalo." It means to work very hard, tirelessly, and without complaint.

  • Để nuôi gia đình, ông ấy cày như trâu. (To support his family, he works like a buffalo.)

noun

1. Plough
   • trâu bò kéo cày
     buffaloes and oxen draw ploughs
   • cày máy
     a tractor-pulled plough
   • tay cày, tay súng
     a rifle in one hand, a plough in the other (peasants' preparedness)

verb

1. To plough
   • cày ruộng
     to plough fields
   • cày sâu bừa kỹ
     to plough deep and rake carefully
   • bom đạn cày nát trận địa
     the battlefield was ploughed up by bombs and bullets
   • xe tăng cày mặt đường