Definitions

1. Adjective:
   • Stinking, foul-smelling: Describes something that emits a very unpleasant, offensive odor, often a combination of rotten and fishy smells.
   • Ignoble, mean, base, despicable: Used figuratively to describe a person's character, actions, or nature that is morally low, vile, or contemptible.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (Literal - Foul smell):

  • Cá để lâu bắt đầu hôi tanh. (The fish left out too long is starting to stink.)
  • Mùi hôi tanh từ cống rãnh. (The foul stench from the sewer.)

• Adjective (Figurative - Despicable character):

  • Hắn ta là một kẻ hôi tanh, không đáng tin. (He is a despicable person, not worthy of trust.)
  • Những hành động hôi tanh đó đã bị lên án. (Those vile actions have been condemned.)

Advanced Usage

• "giống hôi tanh": An ignoble/despicable breed/type (of person). This is a classic, often literary, phrase used to strongly condemn a person's lowly or corrupt nature.
  • Bọn buôn người là giống hôi tanh của xã hội. (Human traffickers are the despicable scum of society.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hôi (adj): Smelly, stinking. Often used alone for a bad smell.
• Tanh (adj): Having a fishy or metallic smell/taste. Often used alone.
• Hôi thối (adj): Rottenly stinking, putrid. Emphasizes a decay-related stench.
• Đê hèn (adj): Mean, base, lowly. A direct synonym for the figurative meaning.
• Nhơ nhuốc (adj): Filthy, soiled (morally). A synonym for the figurative meaning.

Synonyms

• Bốc mùi: To reek, to smell bad.
• Thối tha: Putrid, rotten-smelling.
• Ti tiện: Petty, mean, base.
• Đốn mạt: Degenerate, depraved.

Related Phrases

• Hành động hôi tanh: A vile/despicable action.
• Con người hôi tanh: A vile/contemptible person.

Related Idioms

• "Hôi như cú": As smelly as an owl (a folk simile for something very smelly). This idiom relates to the literal meaning.
• The phrase "giống hôi tanh" itself can be considered a fixed idiomatic expression for condemning someone's base nature.

1. Stinking
2. Ignoble, mean, base
   • Giống hôi tanh
     An ignoble breed