Definitions

1. Noun:

   • Cooked rice: The staple food in Vietnamese cuisine, made by steaming or boiling milled white rice grains until they become soft, fluffy, and ready to eat.
   • A meal, especially one centered around rice: Refers to the main meal of the day, which typically includes rice accompanied by other dishes.

2. Noun (in specific contexts):

   • Flesh, pulp: The soft, edible part of certain fruits.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Cooked rice / Meal):

  • Mỗi bữa tôi ăn hai bát cơm. (I eat two bowls of rice every meal.)
  • Cả nhà đang quây quần bên mâm cơm. (The whole family is gathering around the meal table.)
  • Mẹ tôi nấu cơm rất ngon. (My mother cooks rice very well.)

• Noun (Fruit pulp):

  • Quả xoài này cơm rất dày và ngọt. (This mango has very thick and sweet flesh.)
  • Tôi thích ăn mít vì cơm của nó thơm. (I like eating jackfruit because its pulp is fragrant.)

Advanced Usage

• "cơm nguội": Literally "cold rice". Can refer to leftover rice or, metaphorically, to something outdated or no longer interesting.

  • Anh ấy chỉ toàn nói những chuyện cơm nguội. (He only talks about stale topics.)

• "cơm cháo": Literally "rice and congee". Refers to basic, everyday sustenance or a meager living.

  • Họ phải lo cơm cháo hằng ngày. (They have to worry about their daily bread every day.)

Variants and Related Words

• Cơm nếp (n): Sticky rice, glutinous rice.

  • Cơm nếp thường được dùng làm xôi. (Sticky rice is often used to make steamed glutinous rice.)

• Cơm tấm (n): A specific Vietnamese dish made from broken rice grains.

  • Quán *cơm tấm này rất nổi tiếng.* (This broken rice restaurant is very famous.)

• Cơm niêu (n): Rice cooked in a clay pot.

  • Cơm niêu có một hương vị rất đặc biệt. (Clay pot rice has a very special flavor.)

Synonyms

• Gạo (n): Uncooked rice, rice grains.

  • Gạo được nấu thành cơm. (Rice grains are cooked into cooked rice.)

• Bữa ăn (n): A meal.

  • Bữa ăn trưa thường có cơm. (Lunch usually includes rice.)

Related Phrases (Idioms/Collocations)

• "cơm áo gạo tiền": Literally "rice, clothes, rice, money". An idiom referring to the basic material necessities and financial pressures of daily life.

  • Cuộc sống cơm áo gạo tiền thật vất vả. (The life of making ends meet is truly hard.)

• "cơm bụi / cơm hàng cháo chợ": Refers to cheap, casual meals eaten at street-side eateries or markets, often implying an unsettled or frugal lifestyle.

  • Hồi sinh viên, tôi toàn ăn cơm bụi. (When I was a student, I always ate cheap street food.)

• "chuyện cơm bữa": Literally "an everyday meal story". Refers to a common, mundane, or trivial matter.

  • Đó chỉ là chuyện cơm bữa, đừng bận tâm. (That's just an everyday matter, don't worry about it.)

noun

1. Flesh, pulp (of fruit)
2. Meal
   • dọn một mâm cơm
     to lay a meal on a tray
   • làm cơm thết khách
     to prepare a meal to entertain guests
   • cửa hàng bán cơm bữa
     a table d'ho^te restaurant
   • đi ở cơm không
     to be a servant on board-wages
   • chuyện cơm bữa
     common occurence
   • cơm áo gạo tiền
     daily necessaries
   • cơm hàng cháo chợ
     without a settled home