Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Extremely frightened, terrified: "hết vía" describes a state of being so scared that one feels their "vía" (a concept akin to spirit, vitality, or soul) has left their body. It signifies profound fear or shock.
   • Astonished, dumbfounded: It can also express a state of being utterly shocked or amazed to the point of being speechless or feeling one's spirit depart.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Nghe tiếng nổ, tôi hết vía. (Hearing the explosion, I was terrified.)
  • Thấy con rắn trong phòng, cô ấy hết vía. (Seeing the snake in the room, she was frightened out of her wits.)
  • Nghe tin đó, anh ấy hết vía vì quá ngạc nhiên. (Hearing that news, he was dumbfounded from sheer surprise.)

Advanced Usage

• "làm cho hết vía": to scare someone out of their wits, to terrify someone.

  • Bộ phim kinh dị đó làm cho tôi hết vía. (That horror movie scared me out of my wits.)

• "hết cả vía": an emphatic form of "hết vía," meaning utterly terrified or astonished.

  • Nhìn từ trên cao xuống, tôi hết cả vía. (Looking down from the great height, I was utterly terrified.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hồn vía (n): soul, spirit (often used in contexts of fear, e.g., "bay hồn vía" - to be scared out of one's wits).
• Kinh hồn (adj): soul-terrifying, horrified (a close synonym emphasizing fear).
• Khiếp vía (adj): terrified, horrified (another synonym with similar meaning and structure).

Synonyms

• Sợ khiếp vía: to be mortally afraid.
• Kinh hồn bạt vía: to be scared out of one's wits (an idiomatic synonym).
• Hoảng sợ: to panic, to be frightened.

Related Idioms

• Kinh hồn bạt vía: (to be so scared that one's) soul is terrified and spirit flees; terrified out of one's mind.

  • Âm thanh đó làm tôi kinh hồn bạt vía. (That sound terrified me out of my mind.)

• Hồn bay phách lạc: (one's) soul flies away and vital spirit gets lost; extremely frightened (similar meaning, different imagery).

  • Cú ngã làm nó hồn bay phách lạc. (The fall scared him senseless.)