Definition

1. Noun:
   • Prism: A transparent optical element, typically made of glass or crystal, with flat, polished surfaces that refract (bend) light. Its most common shape is a triangular prism, which can separate white light into its constituent colors (a spectrum).
   • Lens / Perspective (figurative): A metaphorical term for a particular viewpoint, framework, or set of beliefs through which something is perceived, interpreted, or understood.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Physical Object):
  • Ánh sáng trắng khi đi qua lăng kính sẽ tách thành cầu vồng màu sắc. (White light separates into a rainbow of colors when passing through a prism.)
  • Ống nhòm này sử dụng lăng kính để thu gọn chiều dài. (This binocular uses prisms to shorten its length.)
• Noun (Figurative Perspective):
  • Hãy nhìn vấn đề qua lăng kính của khoa học. (Look at the issue through the lens of science.)
  • Mỗi nhà sử học có lăng kính riêng khi phân tích sự kiện. (Each historian has their own prism when analyzing events.)

Advanced Usage

• "Lăng kính phản xạ toàn phần": Total internal reflection prism. A prism designed to reflect light within itself using the principle of total internal reflection, commonly used in optical devices like periscopes and binoculars.
  • Hệ thống kính ngắm sử dụng lăng kính phản xạ toàn phần. (The sighting system uses a total internal reflection prism.)

Variants and Related Words

• Kính lăng trụ: Another term for a prism, emphasizing its geometric shape.
• Lăng trụ: Prism (more general geometric term for the shape, not exclusively optical).

Synonyms

• Prism: (for the optical device).
• Lens: (for the figurative meaning, as in "viewpoint" or "filter").
• Perspective: A particular way of viewing things.
• Framework: A structure of ideas used as a basis for understanding.

Related Idioms

• Qua lăng kính của ai/điều gì: Through someone's/something's prism/lens. This phrase is used to describe the act of perceiving or analyzing something from a specific, often subjective, viewpoint.
  • Câu chuyện được kể lại qua lăng kính của người trong cuộc. (The story is retold through the prism of an insider.)

noun

1. prism