Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Bulky, cumbersome: Describes objects that are large, heavy, and awkward to handle or move, often taking up too much space.
   • Lying in the way / obstructive: Refers to items that are inconveniently placed, causing an obstruction or being in the way.
2. Adjective (in medical context):
   • Stiff and crusted (from scabies): Describes a hand or limb that is severely affected by scabies or a similar skin condition, leading to stiffness and an inability to bend or close properly.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (bulky):
  • Đồ đạc kềnh càng. (Bulky furniture.)
  • Chiếc tủ cũ này quá kềnh càng cho căn phòng nhỏ. (This old wardrobe is too cumbersome for the small room.)
• Adjective (obstructive):
  • Sao để các thứ kềnh càng như thế này? (Why have you left things lying in the way like this?)
• Adjective (medical):
  • Tay bị ghẻ kềnh càng không co lại được. (To have one's hands so stiff with scabies that one cannot close them.)

Advanced Usage

• The term often carries a negative connotation of inconvenience and impracticality, used to criticize the size, placement, or condition of something.
• It can be used metaphorically to describe abstract concepts like bureaucratic procedures or plans that are overly complicated and inefficient, though this is an extended, colloquial use.
  • Dự án mới có quy trình kềnh càng. (The new project has a cumbersome process.)

Variants and Related Words

• Kềnh (adj): Can be used alone in some dialects to imply something is large, spread out, or lying awkwardly. It is less common than the full form "kềnh càng."

Synonyms

• Cumbersome: Difficult to handle due to size or weight.
• Unwieldy: Not easily carried or managed because of shape or size.
• Obstructive: Causing an obstruction; being in the way.
• Bulky: Taking up much space.

Related Idioms

• While "kềnh càng" itself is not typically part of a fixed idiom, its imagery is used in descriptive phrases.
  • Nằm kềnh ra đó: To lie sprawled out (often inelegantly or obstructively).

1. Bulky, cumbrous, lying in the way
   • Đồ đạc kềnh càng
     Bulky furniture
   • Sao để các thứ kềnh càng như thế này
     Why have you left things lying in the way like that
2. Be stiff with itch-mites
   • Tay bị ghẻ kềnh ghẻ càng không co lại được
     To have one's hands so stiff with itch-mites that one cannot close them