Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Cold; poor: Describes a state of being cold, or a condition of poverty and hardship. This is a literary or formal usage.
2. Verb:
   • To weld; to solder: The primary modern meaning, referring to the process of joining pieces of metal or plastic by melting and fusing them.
   • To fill (a tooth): In dentistry, to repair a cavity by filling it with a suitable material.
3. Noun (abbreviation):
   • Scholar; academic title: An abbreviation of "Hàn lâm" (Hanlin), historically referring to a member of the imperial academy or a scholar.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Cuộc sống hàn vi. (A cold and poor life; a life of humble poverty.)
• Verb:
  • Thợ sắt đang hàn một khung cửa sổ. (The ironworker is welding a window frame.)
  • Tôi cần đi hàn răng. (I need to go get my tooth filled.)
• Noun:
  • Ông hàn ấy rất uyên bác. (That scholar is very erudite.)

Advanced Usage

• "hàn gắn": to mend, to heal (often used figuratively for relationships or emotions).
  • Họ cố gắng hàn gắn cuộc hôn nhân. (They try to mend their marriage.)
• "hàn thử biểu": thermometer (a compound word literally meaning "cold-heat meter").
  • Hàn thử biểu chỉ 30 độ C. (The thermometer reads 30 degrees Celsius.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hàn lâm (n): Hanlin Academy; academia; scholarly.
  • Viện Hàn lâm Khoa học. (The Academy of Sciences.)
• Hàn the (n): borax (a chemical used in welding and other processes).
• Thợ hàn (n): welder.
  • Thợ hàn cần đeo mặt nạ bảo vệ. (A welder needs to wear a protective mask.)

Synonyms

• Adjective: lạnh (cold), nghèo (poor), khổ cực (hard).
• Verb: gắn kết (to join), vá (to patch - for teeth or pots).
• Noun: học giả (scholar), nhà nho (Confucian scholar).

Related Idioms

• Hàn sĩ: a poor scholar; an impoverished intellectual.
  • Thuở hàn sĩ, ông ấy sống rất thanh bạch. (In his days as a poor scholar, he lived very modestly.)
• Cơ hàn: hunger and cold; extreme poverty.
  • Gia đình ấy đã trải qua cảnh cơ hàn. (That family experienced destitution.)

adj

1. cold poor