Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Very thin and bony, gaunt: Describes a person, animal, or plant that is extremely thin, with bones visibly protruding, often suggesting frailty or lack of nourishment.
   • Scrawny, spindly: Can describe limbs or branches that are unattractively thin and weak-looking.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau trận ốm nặng, ông ấy trông thật khẳng kheo. (After the serious illness, he looks very gaunt.)
  • Những cành cây khẳng kheo vươn ra trong sương mù. (The spindly tree branches reached out in the fog.)
  • Con mèo hoang nhìn khẳng kheo vì đói. (The stray cat looks scrawny from hunger.)

Advanced Usage

• The word khẳng kheo often carries a stronger, more vivid, and sometimes more negative connotation than simply "thin" (). It emphasizes an unhealthy, bony, and often weak appearance.
• It is frequently used in descriptive writing to evoke a specific image of frailty or desolation.

Variants and Related Words

• Khẳng khiu: A direct synonym with the same meaning (very thin and bony). The two words are often used interchangeably, as noted in the reference.
• Cà kheo: Refers to "stilts." The phrase cà khẳng cà kheo (or khẳng cà kheo) is an intensified form, meaning even more extremely thin and lanky, like someone walking on stilts.

Synonyms

• Gầy gò: Thin and sickly-looking.
• Ốm yếu: Thin and weak.
• Còm nhom: Skinny, all skin and bones.
• Teo tóp: Shrivelled, wasted away.

Idioms and Common Phrases

• Cà khẳng cà kheo / Khẳng cà kheo: An idiomatic, intensified version meaning extremely lanky, gaunt, or spindly.
  • Thằng bé cao lêu nghêu mà người thì cà khẳng cà kheo. (The boy is tall and lanky and his body is extremely gaunt.)

1. như khẳng khiu