cơ hàn
Definition
- Adjective:
- Impoverished; destitute: Describes a state of extreme poverty and hardship, specifically suffering from both hunger ("cơ") and cold ("hàn"). It conveys a condition of lacking basic necessities like food and warm clothing.
- Hardscrabble; poverty-stricken: Pertains to a life of constant struggle against want and deprivation.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Tuổi thơ cơ hàn đã rèn luyện ý chí của ông ấy. (An impoverished childhood forged his willpower.)
- Họ sống một cuộc sống cơ hàn trong căn nhà tồi tàn. (They lived a destitute life in a dilapidated house.)
- Câu chuyện kể về một gia đình cơ hàn. (The story is about a poverty-stricken family.)
Advanced Usage
- Often used in literary or formal contexts to evoke a strong sense of sympathy for profound suffering and material lack. It is more evocative than common words for poverty like "nghèo".
Variants and Related Words
Cơ cực (adj): arduous, full of hardship and misery.
- Đời sống cơ cực. (A life of hardship.)
Hàn vi (adj/state): humble and poor circumstances, especially in one's early life before success.
- Thuở hàn vi. (The time of humble beginnings.)
Synonyms
- Destitute: lacking the means of subsistence.
- Impoverished: reduced to poverty.
- Needy: in need of basic necessities.
- Penurious: extremely poor; poverty-stricken.
Related Idioms
Cơm không lành, canh không ngọt: (lit. Rice isn't nice, soup isn't sweet) Describes a state of poverty where even basic meals are unsatisfactory.
- Cuộc sống cơ hàn, cơm không lành canh không ngọt. (A destitute life where nothing is satisfactory.)
Đói rét: (lit. hungry and cold) A simpler, more direct phrase for suffering hunger and cold.
- Chống lại cái đói rét mùa đông. (To fight against the winter hunger and cold.)