Definition

1. Noun:
   • Seed: A small, hard object produced by plants, from which a new plant can grow. This is the primary and most common meaning.
   • Seed (in sports): A top-ranked competitor or team in a tournament, placed in the draw so as not to meet other top contenders in the early rounds. This is a metaphorical extension of the primary meaning.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Botanical Seed):
  • Người nông dân đang chọn hạt giống tốt nhất để gieo trồng. (The farmer is selecting the best seed to sow.)
  • Mỗi hạt giống đều chứa đựng tiềm năng của một cây lớn. (Every seed contains the potential of a large tree.)
• Noun (Sports Seed):
  • Anh ấy là hạt giống số 1 của giải đấu năm nay. (He is the number 1 seed in this year's tournament.)

Advanced Usage

• "hạt giống tốt": This phrase means "good seed" literally, but is often used metaphorically to describe a person (especially a child) with great potential or good upbringing.
  • Đứa trẻ ấy thông minh và ngoan ngoãn, đúng là một hạt giống tốt. (That child is intelligent and well-behaved, truly a good seed [a person of great promise].)

Variants and Related Words

• Gieo hạt / Gieo trồng (v): To sow seeds / to cultivate.
  • Công việc gieo hạt đòi hỏi sự kiên nhẫn. (The work of sowing seeds requires patience.)
• Hạt (n): A general word for a grain, pellet, or small round object (e.g., - grain of sand, - raindrop). Hạt giống is a specific compound of this word.
• Giống (n): Breed, strain, variety, type. When used separately, it often refers to the category or quality (e.g., - rice variety, - dog breed).

Synonyms

• Mầm (n): Sprout, germ. (Note: is the result after a seed germinates, not the seed itself.)
• Phôi (n): Embryo (the part inside a seed that develops into a new plant).

Related Phrases / Compound Words

• Hạt giống tâm hồn: A common phrase for a series of Vietnamese books with inspirational stories, translating roughly to "Seeds for the Soul."
• Vốn hạt giống: Seed capital (in business).
• Hạt giống lai: Hybrid seed.

Related Idioms

• "Gieo hạt giống nào, gặt quả đấy" / "Gieo nhân nào, gặt quả đấy": This is a proverb equivalent to "As you sow, so shall you reap." It uses hạt giống metaphorically to mean one's actions or deeds.
  • Hãy cẩn thận với hành động của mình, vì gieo hạt giống nào, gặt quả đấy. (Be careful with your actions, because as you sow, so shall you reap.)

1. Seed
   • Gieo hạt giống
     To sow the seed
   • Đấu thủ hạt giống
     A seed player, a seed