Definition

1. Verb phrase:
   • To vomit blood: To expel blood from the mouth, often as a severe medical symptom.
   • To sweat blood / to work one's fingers to the bone: To work extremely hard, to the point of exhaustion or great suffering. This is a figurative, idiomatic usage describing immense effort and hardship.

Usage Examples

• Literal (Medical):
  • Bệnh nhân bị loét dạ dày nặng và bắt đầu hộc máu. (The patient had a severe stomach ulcer and began to vomit blood.)
• Figurative (Idiomatic):
  • Công nhân thời đó làm việc hộc máu để kiếm sống. (Workers in that era sweated blood to make a living.)
  • Anh ấy hộc máu ra làm mà dự án vẫn thất bại. (He sweated blood over the work, yet the project still failed.)

Advanced Usage

• The phrase is almost exclusively used in its figurative sense in modern Vietnamese to emphasize extreme toil, difficulty, or frustration. The literal medical meaning is understood but less common in everyday speech.

Variants and Related Words

• Làm hộc máu (verb phrase): To work until one sweats blood; an intensified form of the figurative meaning.
  • Họ làm hộc máu mới hoàn thành công trình đúng hạn. (They worked their fingers to the bone to complete the project on time.)

Synonyms

• Vomit blood: To regurgitate blood.
• Sweat blood: To exert oneself tremendously.
• Work one's fingers to the bone: To work extremely hard.
• Toil: To work extremely hard or incessantly.

Related Idioms

• Làm hộc máu mà không đủ ăn: To sweat blood without being able to make ends meet. This idiom highlights futile, undercompensated labor.
  • Câu chuyện về những người nông dân làm hộc máu mà không đủ ăn. (The story of farmers who sweat blood but still cannot make ends meet.)

1. Vomit blood
2. Sweat blood
   • Làm hộc máu mà không đủ ăn
     To sweat blood without being able to keep body and soul together