Definition

1. Adjective/Adverb:
   • Panting, gasping for breath: Describes the state of breathing heavily, rapidly, and with difficulty, typically due to exhaustion, intense physical exertion, or strong emotion.

Usage Examples

• Adjective/Adverb:
  • Sau khi chạy lên cầu thang, anh ấy đứng hổn ha hổn hển. (After running up the stairs, he stood there panting heavily.)
  • Cô bé hổn ha hổn hển kể lại câu chuyện vừa xảy ra. (The little girl gasped out the story of what had just happened.)

Advanced Usage

• This term is a reduplicative form (từ láy) based on "hổn hển." The reduplication (hổn ha + hổn hển) intensifies the meaning, emphasizing the urgency, intensity, and audible nature of the labored breathing.
  • Con chó bị lạc chạy về, hổn ha hổn hển vì mệt và khát. (The lost dog ran home, panting and gasping from exhaustion and thirst.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hổn hển (adj/adv): The root word, meaning panting, out of breath. "Hổn ha hổn hển" is a more vivid and emphatic variant.
  • Anh ta trả lời hổn hển. (He answered breathlessly.)

Synonyms

• Thở hổn hển: To pant, to gasp.
• Thở dốc: To be out of breath, to breathe heavily.
• Thở gấp: To breathe rapidly.

Notes on Different Meanings

• This word has a single, specific meaning related to the physical state of breathlessness. It does not have other common figurative meanings.

Related Idioms

• While there is no direct idiom using "hổn ha hổn hển," the state it describes is often part of idiomatic expressions about exhaustion or urgency, such as:
  • Chạy mệt nghỉ: To run until one is exhausted (and stops).
  • Thở không ra hơi: To be unable to catch one's breath (literally: to breathe without getting air).