cơm áo
Definition
- Noun:
- Material needs / Livelihood: The fundamental necessities of life, specifically food and clothing, representing the basic requirements for survival and daily living. It symbolizes the practical, often burdensome, aspects of sustaining oneself and one's family.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Lo toan cơm áo khiến anh ấy không có thời gian cho sở thích cá nhân. (Worrying about material needs leaves him no time for personal hobbies.)
- Cuộc sống mưu sinh là một cuộc vật lộn với cơm áo. (Making a living is a struggle for the basic necessities.)
- Áp lực cơm áo gạo tiền luôn đè nặng lên đôi vai của trụ cột gia đình. (The pressure of putting food on the table and clothes on one's back always weighs heavily on the family breadwinner's shoulders.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is often used in a broader, metaphorical sense to represent all mundane and pressing economic concerns that dominate everyday life, sometimes at the expense of spiritual, artistic, or intellectual pursuits.
Variants and Related Words
- Cơm áo gạo tiền (n): A common extended phrase that explicitly adds "rice" and "money" to "cơm áo," emphasizing all essential material and financial burdens of daily life.
Synonyms
- Livelihood: A means of securing the basic necessities of life.
- Material cares / concerns: Worries related to practical and financial survival.
- Daily bread: A metaphorical term for one's basic sustenance.
Related Idioms
- Vòng xoáy cơm áo: The rat race; the relentless, cyclical struggle to meet material needs.
- Anh ta mệt mỏi với vòng xoáy cơm áo. (He is tired of the rat race.)
- Bận tâm cơm áo: To be preoccupied with making ends meet.
- Cả đời bà ấy bận tâm cơm áo. (She spent her whole life preoccupied with making ends meet.)