khệ nệ
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adverb:
- In a lumbering, heavy, and slow manner: Describes the slow, labored, and often awkward movement of someone carrying a heavy load or being heavily pregnant.
- Struggling under a weight: Indicates the visible effort and difficulty in moving due to bearing something heavy.
Usage Examples
- Adverb:
- Anh ấy khệ nệ bê thùng nước lên cầu thang. (He lumbered up the stairs with the water crate.)
- Chị ấy đi lại khệ nệ vì đang mang bầu những tháng cuối. (She moves slowly and heavily because she is in her final months of pregnancy.)
- Ông lão khệ nệ kéo chiếc vali nặng. (The old man struggled to pull the heavy suitcase.)
Advanced Usage
- "khệ nệ với": to struggle with (a heavy object).
- Cô ấy khệ nệ với bao gạo. (She is struggling with the sack of rice.)
- Used to describe not just physical objects but also metaphorical burdens in a poetic or humorous sense.
- Anh ta khệ nệ với đống công việc chất cao. (He is lumbering under a mountain of work.)
Variants and Related Words
- Nặng nề (adj): Heavy, burdensome. Can describe both physical weight and serious situations.
- Lọ mọ (adv): In a slow, meticulous, and often clumsy manner. Similar in depicting slow movement but not necessarily due to weight.
- Lục đục (adv/adj): Describes a clumsy, fumbling movement or a state of discord. Differs as it often implies a lack of coordination rather than weight.
Synonyms
- Laoịch quạo (adv, informal): Moving in a slow, heavy, and ungainly way.
- Lù đù (adv): Moving slowly and sluggishly, often due to laziness or fatigue, not necessarily from carrying weight.
Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)
Note: As an adverb, "khệ nệ" typically modifies verbs and does not form phrasal verbs. It is commonly paired with verbs of movement or carrying. - Đi khệ nệ: to walk in a lumbering/heavy manner. - Bê/Bưng/Mang khệ nệ: to carry something in a slow, struggling manner due to its weight.
Related Idioms
- Khệ nệ như bà chửa: (Simile) As lumbering as a pregnant woman. Used to emphasize very slow, heavy, and awkward movement.
- Mang cái túi đó mà đi khệ nệ như bà chửa. (Carrying that bag, he moves as lumbering as a pregnant woman.)
- Lumber (under the weight of a heavy load), struggle with a heavy thing