Definition

1. Noun:

   • Dysentery: A medical term referring to an infection of the intestines, often causing severe diarrhea with blood and mucus. This is the primary and formal meaning.

2. Adjective:

   • Extremely poor, destitute: Describes a state of severe poverty or financial hardship.
   • Stingy, miserly: (Colloquial) Describes a person who is very reluctant to spend money; parsimonious.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • Anh ấy phải nhập viện vì bệnh kiết. (He had to be hospitalized due to dysentery.)
  • Kiết là một bệnh đường ruột nguy hiểm. (Dysentery is a dangerous intestinal disease.)

• Adjective:

  • Gia đình ông ấy trước đây kiết lắm. (His family was extremely poor before.)
  • Đừng có kiết thế, mời bạn bè ăn một bữa đi. (Don't be so stingy, treat your friends to a meal.)

Advanced Usage

• "kiết xác": (Adjective, colloquial) Emphasizes a state of being utterly destitute or broke.

  • Sau trận lũ, nhiều người dân trở nên kiết xác. (After the flood, many people became utterly destitute.)

• "kiết lị": (Noun) The full term for dysentery, used in more formal or medical contexts.

  • Bác sĩ chẩn đoán bệnh nhân bị kiết lị. (The doctor diagnosed the patient with dysentery.)

Variants and Related Words

• Kiệt (Adjective): Exhausted, depleted (of resources, strength). Can be synonymous with the "poor" meaning in some contexts.
  • Nguồn nước đã kiệt. (The water source is depleted.)
• Keo kiệt (Adjective): Stingy, miserly. A compound word reinforcing the meaning of parsimony.
  • Tính anh ta rất keo kiệt. (He has a very stingy character.)

Synonyms

• For "dysentery" (Noun): lỵ (the more common Sino-Vietnamese term).
• For "extremely poor" (Adjective): nghèo rớt mồng tơi, túng quẫn, bần cùng.
• For "stingy" (Adjective): hà tiện, bủn xỉn, keo cú.

Related Idioms

• "Kiết như ma lem": (Very colloquial/vulgar) To be as poor as a church mouse; emphasizes extreme poverty.
  • Sau vụ thất bại kinh doanh, anh ta kiết như ma lem. (After the business failure, he became dirt poor.)

noun

1. (med) dysentery