Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Fully satisfied, contented, gratified: "hả hê" describes a state of complete satisfaction, contentment, or gratification, often after achieving a desire, getting revenge, or indulging in something pleasurable.
   • To one's heart's content, to satiety: It conveys the feeling of having done something as much as one wanted, reaching a point of full pleasure or fulfillment.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau khi thắng trận, anh ấy cười một cách hả hê. (After winning the match, he laughed with great satisfaction.)
  • Cô ấy ngồi nghỉ ngơi hả hê sau một ngày làm việc vất vả. (She sat resting, fully content after a hard day's work.)
  • Đội nhà thua, cổ động viên đội khách reo hò hả hê. (The home team lost, and the opposing team's fans cheered with gleeful satisfaction.)

Advanced Usage

• "hả hê với...": to be fully satisfied/pleased with...
  • Hắn ta hả hê với chiến thắng của mình. (He was immensely pleased with his victory.)
• Used to describe a sometimes smug or spiteful satisfaction, especially when derived from another's misfortune.
  • Đừng tỏ ra hả hê khi người khác gặp chuyện không may. (Don't act so smug when others encounter misfortune.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hả (interjection/adj): An exclamation of relief or a component meaning "satisfied". Often used in "hả dạ" (satisfied, content).
• Hể hả (adj): A more colloquial and often more visibly gleeful or gloating form of satisfaction.
  • Thấy tôi vấp ngã, nó cười hể hả. (Seeing me trip and fall, he laughed gleefully.)
• Thỏa mãn (verb): to satisfy, to fulfill. A more general and neutral term for satisfaction.
• Khoái chí (adj): delighted, pleased. Similar but often with a stronger sense of active delight or amusement.

Synonyms

• Thỏa thích: to one's heart's content, freely.
• Khoái trá: delighted, gleeful (often with a hint of schadenfreude).
• Mãn nguyện: fulfilled, content (often deeper, more serene).

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "Cười hả hê": to laugh with great satisfaction/gloutingly.
  • Nghe tin ấy, ông ta cười hả hê. (Upon hearing that news, he laughed with smug satisfaction.)
• "Ăn cho hả hê": to eat to one's heart's content.
  • Bữa tiệc cuối năm, mọi người ăn uống cho hả hê. (At the year-end party, everyone ate and drank to their heart's content.)
• While not a phrasal verb, the structure "V + cho hả hê" is common, meaning "to do V to one's full satisfaction".
  • Hôm nay tôi sẽ ngủ cho hả hê. (Today I will sleep to my heart's content.)

1. To one's heart fullest content, to satiety
   • Ăn uống hả hê
     To eat to satiety
   • Để cả một ngày chủ nhật đi dạo phố cho hả hê
     To go for a stroll about the streets for a whole Sunday to one's heart's fullest content