hết vía
Definition
- 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.)