gác bếp
Definition
Noun:
- Kitchen loft / attic: A shelf, rack, or storage space above a traditional kitchen hearth or stove, used for storing items like food, utensils, or firewood to keep them dry and safe from pests.
- A thing of little importance: By extension, something considered trivial, worthless, or obsolete, fit only to be stored away and forgotten.
Verb (colloquial):
- To shelve / to discard: To put something aside, abandon it, or stop using it because it is considered old, broken, or no longer useful.
Usage Examples
Noun:
- Bà tôi thường để các gói gia vị lên gác bếp. (My grandmother often places spice packages on the kitchen loft.)
- Chiếc radio cũ đó giờ chỉ là đồ gác bếp thôi. (That old radio is now just a thing of little importance.)
Verb:
- Cái máy tính hỏng này chúng ta nên gác bếp nó đi. (We should shelve this broken computer.)
Advanced Usage
- The term can be used metaphorically to describe ideas, plans, or projects that are indefinitely postponed or abandoned.
- Dự án xây công viên đã bị gác bếp vì thiếu kinh phí. (The park construction project has been shelved due to lack of funding.)
Variants and Related Words
- Đồ gác bếp (n): A worthless object; something fit only for the loft.
Synonyms
- Noun: Loft, attic, shelf.
- Verb: To shelve, to discard, to abandon, to put away.
Related Idioms and Expressions
- Cho lên gác bếp: To relegate something to the loft; to dismiss something as unimportant or obsolete.
- Kiến thức lỗi thời đó nên cho lên gác bếp. (That outdated knowledge should be relegated to the loft.)