Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Very stinking / Extremely foul-smelling: Describes something that emits an intense, offensive, and rotten odor. It is a stronger and more emphatic term than just "hôi" (smelly).

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Thùng rác này hôi rình quá! (This trash can is extremely foul-smelling!)
  • Cá để lâu ngày đã hôi rình. (The fish left for many days had become very stinking.)
  • Cống bị tắc, nước hôi rình bốc lên. (The drain is clogged, and terribly stinking water is rising.)

Advanced Usage

• The term "hôi rình" is often used in informal, colloquial speech for dramatic emphasis. It can describe both literal bad smells and, metaphorically, situations or behaviors considered morally corrupt or disgraceful.
  • Vụ tham nhũng đó hôi rình cả xã hội đều biết. (That corruption scandal is rotten to the core; everyone in society knows about it.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hôi (adj): Smelly, stinking. A less intense base form.
  • Giày thể thao rất dễ hôi. (Sports shoes easily become smelly.)
• Thối (adj): Rotten, putrid. Often refers to decay causing a smell.
  • Trái cây thối rữa. (The fruit is rotten.)

Synonyms

• Fetid: Smelling extremely unpleasant.
• Putrid: Decaying and emitting a foul smell.
• Rank: Having a strong, offensive smell.
• Rotten: Decomposed and smelly.

Related Idioms

• Hôi như cú: To stink like an owl (a very old idiom implying a terrible smell).
  • Cái ao tù này hôi như cú. (This stagnant pond stinks to high heaven.)
• Tanh hôi: To have a combined smell of fishy and rotten odors.
  • Mùi cá chết tanh hôi khắp bờ sông. (The smell of dead fish, fishy and putrid, is all along the riverbank.)

1. Very stinking