Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Exhausted; extremely weak: Describes a state of being completely drained of energy, to the point where one's body feels limp or unable to function.
   • Drooping; limp: Describes something, often plants or body parts, hanging down loosely due to a lack of strength or vitality.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Làm việc cả ngày, tôi thấy mệt lả. (Working all day, I feel dead tired.)
  • Cây lúa lả xuống sau trận bão. (The rice plants drooped down after the storm.)
  • Cô ấy đói lả người. (She is weak from hunger.)

Advanced Usage

• The word "lả" is often used in combination with adjectives like (tired) or (hungry) to intensify them, forming phrases meaning "extremely tired" or "weak from hunger."
• It can describe a graceful, undulating motion, such as the gentle, dipping flight of a bird.
  • Con cò bay lả trên cánh đồng. (The heron flies gracefully, dipping over the field.)

Variants and Related Words

• Lả lướt (adj/phrase): Describes a smooth, graceful, and flowing movement or manner.
  • Vũ công múa một cách lả lướt. (The dancer moves in a graceful, flowing manner.)

Synonyms

• Exhausted: Drained of energy.
• Limp: Lacking stiffness; drooping.
• Prostrated: Laid low; overcome with weakness.

Related Idioms

• Mệt lả: Dead tired, completely exhausted.

  • Sau chuyến leo núi, họ về nhà mệt lả. (After the hike, they came home dead tired.)

• Đói lả: Weak or faint from hunger.

  • Đứa trẻ đói lả vì nhịn ăn cả ngày. (The child was weak from hunger after not eating all day.)

adj

1. exhausted; weak
   • mệt lả
     dead tired