Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Gaunt, emaciated, haggard: Describes a person or animal with a very thin, bony, and often unhealthy appearance, where the bones (especially cheekbones and hips) are prominent due to extreme thinness or illness.
   • Sunken, hollow: Describes facial features, especially eyes or cheeks, that appear deeply recessed.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau trận ốm nặng, anh ấy trông hông hốc và yếu ớt. (After the serious illness, he looked gaunt and weak.)
  • Đôi mắt hông hốc của người đàn ông ấy thể hiện sự mệt mỏi tột độ. (That man's sunken eyes showed extreme exhaustion.)

Advanced Usage

• "trông hông hốc": to look gaunt/haggard.

  • Cô ấy làm việc quá sức nên trông hông hốc hẳn đi. (She overworked herself so she looks completely haggard.)

• "người hông hốc": a gaunt person.

  • Người đàn ông hông hốc ấy đang lang thang trên phố. (That gaunt man is wandering on the street.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hốc hác (adj): This is a more common variant with the same meaning: gaunt, haggard, drawn.

  • Khuôn mặt hốc hác vì thiếu ngủ. (A face haggard from lack of sleep.)

• Gầy gò (adj): Thin, skinny (can be neutral or negative, but less severe than "hông hốc").

• Tiều tụy (adj): Worn out, haggard (often from hardship or sorrow, implying a deteriorated state).

Synonyms

• Gầy trơ xương: Skin and bones.
• Héo hon: Withered, gaunt (often due to age or sickness).

Notes on Usage

• "Hông hốc" is an adjective, primarily used to describe a person's physical appearance resulting from sickness, exhaustion, malnutrition, or extreme hardship.
• It carries a strong negative connotation, implying an unhealthy and unpleasant state of thinness.
• The word "hốc hác" is far more frequently used in modern Vietnamese with the identical meaning. "Hông hốc" may be considered a less common or slightly archaic form.
• It is not typically used for objects or abstract concepts.