Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Stifling, oppressively hot and humid: Describes weather or an atmosphere that is extremely hot, humid, and difficult to breathe in, causing discomfort.

Usage

• The word hập is primarily used to describe an unpleasant, suffocating quality of heat, often implying high humidity. It is a descriptive term frequently found in weather-related contexts.
• It is commonly used in the fixed phrase nóng hập (stiflingly hot).

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Thời tiết hôm nay thật là hập. (The weather today is truly stifling.)
  • Căn phòng nhỏ không có cửa sổ nên rất hập. (The small room has no windows, so it's very stifling.)
  • Trời nóng hập, chẳng muốn ra ngoài chút nào. (It's stiflingly hot, I don't want to go outside at all.)

Advanced Usage

• Hập hực: This is a variant that intensifies the feeling, describing a state of being very hot and bothered, often from weather or strong emotion (like anger or passion).
  • Người hập hực vì nóng. (Feeling flushed and stifled from the heat.)
• The sensation of hập can also be used metaphorically to describe a tense, oppressive, or suffocating atmosphere in a non-physical sense, though this is less common.

Variants and Related Words

• Hầm hập: An intensified form meaning very hot and stifling.
  • Nóng hầm hập. (Swelteringly hot.)
• Oi bức / Oi ả: Synonyms meaning muggy, sultry, close (weather).
• Ngột ngạt: A synonym meaning suffocating, stifling; can be used for both physical lack of air and metaphorical situations.

Synonyms

• Ngột ngạt: Suffocating, stifling.
• Oi bức: Muggy, sultry.
• Nóng ngột: Hot and suffocating.

Notes

• Hập is a vivid, sensory word specific to describing a particular type of oppressive heat common in tropical climates. Its closest single-word English equivalent is "stifling," though it often requires a phrase like "stiflingly hot" or "oppressively humid" for full accuracy.
• The reference from the Vietnamese-French dictionary ("humide et étouffant" – humid and stifling) perfectly captures its meaning.

1. Stifling
   • Nóng hập
     Stiflingly hot