cấc
Adjective: * Stone hard, shrivelled: Describes something that is extremely hard, rigid, and often dried out or contracted, like a stone or a withered object. It emphasizes a state of being desiccated and unyielding.
The word "cấc" is a descriptive adjective used to characterize the physical state of an object, typically referring to its extreme hardness and dryness. It is often used in contexts describing soil, plants, or materials that have lost all moisture and flexibility.
- Adjective:
- Đất đồi rắn cấc. (The hill's soil is stone hard.)
- Trái cây để lâu đã teo lại, cấc cả rồi. (The fruit left for too long has shrivelled up, it's all dried and hard.)
- Miếng bánh mì này cấc quá, không ăn được. (This piece of bread is too hard and dry, it's inedible.)
- "cứng cấc": An intensified form combining "cứng" (hard) with "cấc" to emphasize extreme, unpleasant hardness.
- Chiếc bánh mì cũ cứng cấc. (The old bread was rock hard.)
- Cứng (adj): Hard, firm. A more general and common term for hardness.
- Khô (adj): Dry. A general term for lack of moisture.
- Teo (v/adj): To shrivel, to atrophy. Describes the process or state of shrinking and drying up.
- Co lại (v): To contract, to shrink. Refers to the action of becoming smaller.
- Khô cứng: Dry and hard.
- Khô queo: Very dry and shrivelled (often for plants).
- Rắn chắc: Solid and firm (can have a positive connotation, unlike "cấc").
"Cấc" carries a distinctly negative connotation. It describes a hardness that is undesirable, often resulting from neglect, age, or excessive drying. It is not used for something intentionally hard like metal or stone in construction, but rather for things that have become unpleasantly hard.
- Stone hard, shrivelled
- đất đồi rắn cấcthe hill's soil is stone hard