Definition

Adjective: - Thin, gaunt, emaciated: Describes a person or animal that is very thin, often in a way that suggests weakness, poor health, or a lack of nourishment. It emphasizes a bony, angular, or frail appearance beyond simple slimness.

Usage

• Describing Physical Appearance: Used primarily to describe the physical state of a person or animal. It often carries a slightly negative or sympathetic connotation, implying the thinness is excessive or unhealthy.
• Common Collocations: Often used with words for body parts or overall physique (e.g., - body, - face, - person).

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau trận ốm dài, anh ấy trông rất gầy gò. (After a long illness, he looks very gaunt.)
  • Cô ấy có thân hình gầy gò và yếu ớt. (She has a thin and frail body.)
  • Con chó hoang trông gầy gò và cần được cho ăn. (The stray dog looks emaciated and needs to be fed.)

Advanced Usage

• Comparative and Superlative Forms: Can be used in comparative structures.
  • Anh ấy gầy gò hơn trước rất nhiều. (He is much thinner than before.)
• Figurative Use (Rare): Occasionally used metaphorically to describe something sparse or meager.
  • Bài thơ với những câu chữ gầy gò. (A poem with sparse/meager words.) (Note: This usage is less common and more literary.)

Variants and Related Words

• Gầy (adj): Thin, slim. This is the more common, neutral, or basic term for thinness. intensifies .
• Còm cõi (adj): Gaunt, bony, scrawny. Very similar in meaning to , often interchangeable.
• Ốm yếu (adj): Sickly and weak. Focuses more on the state of illness and weakness that often accompanies being .
• Mảnh khảnh (adj): Slender, slim, willowy. This term has a more positive or neutral connotation, often describing an attractively thin figure.

Synonyms

• Thin: Mỏng, mảnh. (Note: as a direct translation for is often "gaunt" or "emaciated".)
• Gaunt: Hốc hác, tiều tụy.
• Emaciated: Hốc hác, tiều tụy (due to starvation/illness).
• Scrawny: Còm cõi, khẳng khiu.

Antonyms

• Béo (adj): Fat.
• Mập (adj): Plump, chubby.
• Đầy đặn (adj): Full, well-rounded (often for face or body).
• Tròn trịa (adj): Round, plump.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Gầy như que củi: As thin as a stick. (An idiom emphasizing extreme thinness.)
  • Sau chế độ ăn kiêng khắc nghiệt, cô ấy gầy như que củi. (After the strict diet, she is as thin as a rake.)
• Gầy đét: (Colloquial) Very skinny, skin and bones.
  • Thằng bé ăn không đủ nên gầy đét. (The boy doesn't eat enough so he's skin and bones.)

adj

1. thin