khuynh gia
Definition
- Verb phrase:
- To ruin one's family, to bankrupt one's household: "khuynh gia" describes the action of causing one's family to fall into financial ruin or destitution, leading to the loss of wealth and social standing.
Usage Examples
- Verb phrase:
- Cờ bạc có thể khiến người ta khuynh gia bại sản. (Gambling can cause people to ruin their families and lose their fortunes.)
- Ông ấy đã khuynh gia vì những quyết định kinh doanh sai lầm. (He bankrupted his household due to poor business decisions.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is almost exclusively used in the fixed, four-character idiom "khuynh gia bại sản" (傾家敗產), which intensifies the meaning to "to completely ruin one's family and dissipate its assets."
- Tệ nạn đó đã dẫn đến cảnh khuynh gia bại sản cho nhiều gia đình. (That social evil led to complete family ruin and bankruptcy for many households.)
Variants and Related Words
- Bại sản (Verb): To go bankrupt, to become insolvent.
- Công ty đó đã bại sản. (That company went bankrupt.)
- Phá sản (Verb): To go bankrupt (more common in modern legal/business contexts).
- Doanh nghiệp bị tuyên bố phá sản. (The enterprise was declared bankrupt.)
- Sạt nghiệp (Verb phrase): To lose one's fortune, to become impoverished (similar meaning but less classical).
Synonyms
- Làm khánh kiệt gia đình: To impoverish one's family.
- Làm cho nhà tan cửa nát: To cause the home to be destroyed and the door broken (a vivid idiom for utter ruin).
Related Idioms
- Khuynh gia bại sản (傾家敗產): This is the primary and full form. It means to completely exhaust the family's wealth and bring about its downfall.
- Cảnh báo về nguy cơ khuynh gia bại sản từ trò chơi điện tử. (A warning about the risk of total family ruin and bankruptcy from video games.)