Definition

1. Verb:

   • To skin: To remove the skin or hide from an animal, often for food preparation or taxidermy.
   • To peel: To shed or remove an outer layer, such as skin, in a manner similar to peeling. Often used for reptiles or in a figurative sense for sunburn.

2. Verb (figurative):

   • To fleece / to swindle: To strip someone of money or possessions completely, often through deceit.
   • To expose / to unmask: To reveal the true, often hidden, nature of someone or something.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Người thợ săn lột da con nai. (The hunter skinned the deer.)
  • Con rắn đang lột da. (The snake is shedding its skin.)
• Verb (figurative):
  • Tên lừa đảo đó lột da sạch sẽ các nạn nhân. (That swindler fleeced the victims clean.)
  • Bài báo lột da bộ mặt thật của công ty. (The article exposed the true face of the company.)

Advanced Usage

• "lột da sống": To skin alive; used literally or as a severe threat or metaphor for extreme criticism.
  • Ông chủ giận dữ, như muốn lột da sống nhân viên. (The boss was furious, as if he wanted to skin the employee alive.)

Variants and Related Words

• Lột xác (v): To molt, to shed skin (for insects, reptiles); to transform or reinvent oneself completely.
  • Con tằm lột xác để thành nhộng. (The silkworm molts to become a pupa.)
  • Công ty đang cố gắng lột xác để cạnh tranh. (The company is trying to reinvent itself to compete.)

Synonyms

• Skin: To remove the skin.
• Fleece: To deprive of money unjustly.
• Expose: To reveal something concealed.

Related Idioms

• Lột mặt nạ: To unmask, to reveal someone's true (often hypocritical) identity.

  • Cuộc điều tra đã lột mặt nạ tên tội phạm. (The investigation unmasked the criminal.)

• Da nào lột nấy (idiomatic): Literally "each skin sheds itself"; meaning everyone must deal with their own problems or face the consequences of their own actions.

  • Anh ta gây ra lỗi lầm, giờ da nào lột nấy thôi. (He made the mistake, now he must face the music.)