họa hoằn
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adverb:
- Very occasionally, far between: Describes an event or action that happens extremely rarely, with long intervals between occurrences.
- Once in a blue moon: An idiomatic equivalent emphasizing the extreme infrequency of an event.
Usage Examples
- Adverb:
- Họa hoằn mới uống cốc rượu. (I drink a glass of wine very occasionally.)
- Anh ấy họa hoằn mới đến thăm. (He visits once in a blue moon.)
- Những lỗi như thế này chỉ xảy ra họa hoằn. (Mistakes like this happen only very rarely.)
Advanced Usage
- Used to modify verbs, emphasizing the exceptional rarity of the action. It often carries a nuance that the event is an exception to the norm.
- Họa hoằn lắm tôi mới đi xem phim. (It's very rare that I go to the cinema.)
Variants and Related Words
- Thỉnh thoảng (adv): occasionally, sometimes (implies more frequency than ).
- Hiếm khi (adv): rarely, seldom.
- Độc nhất vô nhị (adj/phrase): unique, one of a kind (describes uniqueness, not frequency).
Synonyms
- Very rarely
- Once in a great while
- Infrequently
- Sporadically
Related Idioms
- Năm thì mười họa: An idiom with a similar meaning, suggesting something happens only a few times out of many chances (literally "five times, ten perhaps").
- Chuyện đó năm thì mười họa mới xảy ra. (That happens only once in a blue moon.)
- Very occasionally, far between, once in a blue moon
- Họa hoằn mới uống cốc rượuTo drink a glass of wine very occasionally