kết băng
Definition
- Intransitive Verb:
- To freeze, to ice over, to become frozen: Refers to a liquid solidifying into a solid state, typically due to cold temperatures. It describes the process of turning into ice.
- To congeal, to solidify: Can also describe a liquid thickening or solidifying, not necessarily due to extreme cold, but implying a hardening process.
Usage Examples
- Intransitive Verb:
- Mặt hồ đã kết băng. (The surface of the lake has frozen over.)
- Nước trong chai có thể kết băng nếu để trong tủ đông. (The water in the bottle can freeze if left in the freezer.)
- Sau cơn bão tuyết, các con đường nhỏ đều kết băng. (After the snowstorm, the small roads all iced over.)
Advanced Usage
- Describing a natural phenomenon: Often used to describe rivers, lakes, or other bodies of water freezing.
- Dòng sông kết băng cho phép người dân đi bộ qua. (The river freezing over allowed people to walk across.)
- Metaphorical use for stagnation: Sometimes used figuratively to describe a situation or process that has become static or immobile, like something frozen.
- Cuộc đàm phán dường như đã kết băng. (The negotiations seem to have frozen/stalled.)
Variants and Related Words
- Đóng băng: (verb) To freeze. Often used interchangeably with "kết băng," but "đóng băng" is more common in everyday speech and can also mean "to freeze" in a financial/technological context (e.g., freeze assets, freeze a computer screen).
- Băng giá: (noun) Ice, frost; (adjective) icy, frosty. Refers to the ice itself or icy conditions.
- Đông cứng: (verb) To solidify, to congeal. Can be used for liquids solidifying due to cold or other processes (e.g., blood clotting).
Synonyms
- Đông lại: To solidify, to congeal. A general term for a liquid becoming solid.
- Đóng thành băng: To turn into ice. A more descriptive phrase with the same meaning.
Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)
(Note: As "kết băng" is a compound verb itself, it is not typically broken down into phrasal verbs. The related phrases are fixed expressions.) - Làm kết băng: To cause to freeze, to freeze (something). This is the causative form. - Cái lạnh khắc nghiệt làm kết băng mọi thứ. (The severe cold froze everything.)
Related Idioms
(Note: There are no common idioms that use the exact term "kết băng." The concept is more directly expressed. However, the state of being frozen is used in expressions.) - Lạnh cóng / Lạnh buốt: (Idiomatic adjectives) Freezing cold, bitterly cold. Describes intense cold that could cause freezing. - Trời đông lạnh cóng. (The winter weather is freezing cold.)