hì hục

Hai bố con hì hục khiêng chiếc tủ lên tầng hai.

Definition

1. Adverb:
   • Laboriously; with strenuous effort: Describes performing a task with intense physical exertion, often in a sustained and diligent manner.
   • Assiduously; doggedly: Implies working persistently and with great determination, sometimes to the point of being absorbed in the task.

Usage Examples

• Adverb:
  • Hai bố con hì hục khiêng chiếc tủ lên tầng hai. (Father and son laboriously carried the wardrobe up to the second floor.)
  • Nó hì hục làm bài tập cả buổi chiều. (He worked assiduously on his homework all afternoon.)
  • Các công nhân hì hục đào mương dưới cái nắng nóng. (The workers toiled strenuously digging a ditch under the hot sun.)

Advanced Usage

• The word often carries a nuance of visible, sometimes even strenuous or sweaty, effort. It can be used humorously or sympathetically to describe someone engrossed in hard work.
  • Cậu ấy hì hục mãi với cái máy tính hỏng mà vẫn chưa sửa được. (He has been doggedly working on the broken computer for ages but still hasn't fixed it.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hì hụp (v): This is a distinct, though similar-sounding, verb meaning to bob up and down (e.g., in water) or to dip something repeatedly.
  • Đứa trẻ hì hụp trong bể bơi. (The child was bobbing up and down in the swimming pool.)

Synonyms

• Toil: to work extremely hard or incessantly.
• Labor: to work with great effort.
• Grind away: to work hard at something over a long period.
• Plug away: to work steadily and diligently.

Related Idioms

• While "hì hục" itself is not typically part of a fixed idiom, it is commonly used in descriptive phrases that emphasize hard, continuous labor.
  • Hì hục như trâu cày (Toiling like a plowing buffalo): A simile emphasizing very hard, manual labor.

    • Anh ấy hì hục như trâu cày trên cánh đồng. (He toiled like a plowing buffalo in the field.)