kì cùng
Definition
- Adverb:
- Ultimately, in the end, at the very end: Used to indicate the final, ultimate, or most extreme point or outcome of a situation, process, or series of events. It emphasizes reaching the absolute limit or conclusion.
Usage Examples
- Adverb:
- Kì cùng, họ cũng phải chấp nhận sự thật. (Ultimately, they also had to accept the truth.)
- Chúng ta sẽ chiến đấu kì cùng. (We will fight to the very end.)
- Kì cùng thì mọi chuyện cũng sẽ ổn thôi. (In the end, everything will be fine.)
Advanced Usage
"đến kì cùng": to the very end, to the ultimate limit.
- Anh ấy kiên trì đến kì cùng. (He persevered to the very end.)
"kì cùng thì...": used to introduce a concluding or summarizing statement about a situation after considering all possibilities.
- Kì cùng thì, sức khỏe vẫn là quan trọng nhất. (When all is said and done, health is still the most important.)
Variants and Related Words
- Cuối cùng (adj/adv): final, lastly, finally. (Note: "cuối cùng" is more common and general for "finally," while "kì cùng" carries a stronger sense of reaching an ultimate or extreme limit.)
- Rốt cuộc (adv): after all, in the final analysis.
- Tận cùng (n/adv): the very end, the extremity (often used for physical or abstract limits, e.g., "tận cùng của trái đất" - the ends of the earth).
Synonyms
- Sau cùng: in the end, finally.
- Cuối cùng: finally, ultimately.
- Rốt cuộc: in the end, after all.
Related Phrases
- Một mất một còn: a life-and-death struggle, a fight to the finish. (This idiom conveys a similar sense of ultimate consequence as "kì cùng" often implies.)
- Đến cùng: to the end (a simpler, more common phrase with similar meaning).