Definition

1. Adjective (idiomatic):
   • To be nothing but skin and bone: To be extremely thin and emaciated, to the point where the bones are prominently visible beneath the skin. It describes a state of severe gauntness, often due to illness, malnutrition, or extreme hardship.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau trận ốm dài, ông ấy trông giơ xương. (After the long illness, he looks nothing but skin and bone.)
  • Con chó bị bỏ rơi trông giơ xương và yếu ớt. (The abandoned dog looks skin and bone and weak.)
  • Nạn đói khiến nhiều người trong làng trở nên giơ xương. (The famine left many people in the village as nothing but skin and bone.)

Advanced Usage

• This term is almost exclusively used in its idiomatic form "gầy giơ xương" or "trông giơ xương" to intensify the description of thinness. It is a vivid, figurative expression.

Variants and Related Words

• Gầy giơ xương (adj phrase): The full, most common form meaning "skinny to the point of showing bones," "emaciated."
  • Đứa trẻ suy dinh dưỡng gầy giơ xương. (The malnourished child is emaciated.)

Synonyms

• Emaciated: Abnormally thin or weak, especially because of illness or a lack of food.
• Gaunt: (Of a person) lean and haggard, especially because of suffering, hunger, or age.
• Skeletal: Relating to or resembling a skeleton; extremely thin.
• Skin and bone: An idiom meaning very thin.

Related Idioms

• Da bọc xương: (Lit: skin wrapping bone) Another Vietnamese idiom with an identical meaning to "giơ xương," describing extreme thinness.
  • Cụ già ốm nặng, chỉ còn da bọc xương. (The seriously ill old man is just skin and bone.)

1. gầy giơ xương
2. To be nothing but skin and bone