hữu thất
Definition
- Noun (Literary/Classical):
- To have a wife; to be married (of a man): A classical Chinese-Vietnamese term literally meaning "to have a house/home," used euphemistically to indicate that a man has taken a wife and established a household.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Sau khi đăng khoa, ông ấy mới chính thức hữu thất. (After passing the imperial exams, he officially took a wife.)
- Theo quan niệm xưa, trai tráng hữu thất là lập nghiệp. (According to old beliefs, a young man taking a wife was considered establishing his career.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is almost exclusively found in historical, literary, or highly formal contexts. It is not used in modern conversational Vietnamese.
- It specifically refers to the male perspective of marriage (a man taking a wife).
Variants and Related Words
- Thất (n, literary): wife. Can be used in other classical compounds like (principal wife), (successor wife).
- Hữu (v, literary): to have, to possess. Appears in other Sino-Vietnamese terms like (useful, literally "to have benefit").
Synonyms
- Có vợ (v, common): to have a wife.
- Lấy vợ (v, common): to take a wife, to marry (said of a man).
- Kết hôn (v, formal): to marry (gender-neutral).
Related Idioms
- Thành gia lập thất: to get married and settle down (to establish a family and a home). This is a more common classical idiom with a similar meaning.
- Cậu ấy giờ đã thành gia lập thất rồi. (He is now married and settled down.)