cố gia
Definition
- Noun:
- Old house / Former house: Refers to a house that is old, was previously inhabited, or is from a past time. It often carries a nostalgic or sentimental connotation.
- Ancestral home: Can imply a family's old home or homestead, passed down through generations.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Anh ấy trở về thăm cố gia sau hai mươi năm. (He returned to visit his old house after twenty years.)
- Cố gia của dòng họ đó đã thành di tích. (The ancestral home of that lineage has become a heritage site.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is literary and formal. It is more commonly found in written Vietnamese, such as in literature, historical texts, or formal speech, than in everyday conversation.
Variants and Related Words
Nhà cũ (n): A more common and neutral term for "old house."
- Họ đang bán căn nhà cũ. (They are selling the old house.)
Tổ ấm (n): Homestead, hearth; emphasizes the emotional warmth of a home.
- Dinh thự cũ (n): Old mansion; specifies a larger, more imposing old residence.
Synonyms
- Old home: A direct synonym emphasizing age and former habitation.
- Former residence: A formal synonym.
- Ancestral home: Specifically for a family's historical home.
Related Idioms
- While "cố gia" itself is not typically part of a common idiom, it relates to themes of nostalgia and return, such as in the concept of "trở về cố hương" (to return to one's native land).