Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Thoroughly cooked, tender, soft: "dừ" describes food, especially meat or vegetables, that has been cooked for a long time until it becomes very soft, tender, and easy to chew or break apart. It is a regional (dialectal) variant of the standard word "nhừ".
   • Exhausted, worn out (figurative): In a figurative sense, it can describe a person or thing that is extremely tired, exhausted, or worn out.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Thịt kho phải nấu cho thật dừ mới ngon. (Braised pork must be cooked until it's very tender to be delicious.)
  • Sau chuyến đi dài, cả người tôi cảm thấy dừ rã. (After the long trip, my whole body felt completely worn out.)
  • Rau củ hầm dừ ăn rất mềm. (Stewed vegetables that are cooked until soft are very tender to eat.)

Advanced Usage

• "nấu dừ": to cook something until it's very tender.

  • Món này cần phải nấu dừ tới vài tiếng. (This dish needs to be cooked until tender for several hours.)

• "mệt dừ": to be completely exhausted.

  • Làm việc cả ngày khiến anh ấy mệt dừ. (Working all day made him completely exhausted.)

Variants and Related Words

• Nhừ (adj): The standard Vietnamese word with the same meanings: thoroughly cooked/tender; exhausted.

  • Thịt bò hầm nhừ. (Beef stewed until tender.)

• Nhũn (adj): Soft, mushy (often from being overcooked or soaked).

  • Rau luộc quá lâu bị nhũn. (The vegetables boiled for too long became mushy.)

• Mềm (adj): Soft (general term for texture).

  • Bánh mì này rất mềm. (This bread is very soft.)

Synonyms

• Chín nhừ: thoroughly cooked/soft.
• Mềm nhũn: soft and mushy.
• Rã rời: (for exhaustion) utterly worn out, limp.

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

(This section is less common for adjectives like "dừ," but related verb phrases exist.) - Hầm cho dừ: to stew/braise until tender. - Hầm xương cho dừ để nước ngọt. (Stew the bones until tender to make the broth sweet.)

Related Idioms

• Dừ như tương: (simile) As soft/mushy as fermented bean paste; meaning extremely soft or utterly exhausted.
  • Làm việc nặng xong, tay chân dừ như tương. (After doing heavy work, my limbs were as limp as bean paste.)

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