Definition

1. Verb:

   • To spread: To extend over a larger area or to affect more people or things. Often used for intangible things like news, rumors, or emotions, as well as tangible things like fire or water.
   • To creep / to run: To grow or move gradually over a surface, typically used for plants like vines or ivy.

2. Noun:

   • Orchid: A type of flowering plant, often with beautiful and fragrant blooms, belonging to the family Orchidaceae. Commonly grown as an ornamental plant.

Usage Examples

• Verb:

  • Tin tức lan rất nhanh trên mạng xã hội. (The news spread very quickly on social media.)
  • Ngọn lửa lan sang các khu rừng lân cận. (The fire spread to the nearby forests.)
  • Cây thường xuân lan trên bức tường. (The ivy crept along the wall.)

• Noun:

  • Cô ấy có một vườn lan rất đẹp. (She has a very beautiful orchid garden.)
  • Hoa lan này có mùi thơm rất đặc biệt. (This orchid has a very special fragrance.)

Advanced Usage

• "lan truyền": to propagate, to disseminate (often for information, diseases, or influence).

  • Video đó đã được lan truyền với tốc độ chóng mặt. (That video was disseminated at a dizzying speed.)

• "lan man": to digress, to ramble (in speech or thought).

  • Bài phát biểu của anh ấy hơi lan man, không đi vào trọng tâm. (His speech was a bit rambling and didn't get to the point.)

Variants and Related Words

• Phong lan (n): epiphytic orchid; an orchid that grows on trees.

  • Phong lan thường sống bám trên thân cây lớn. (Epiphytic orchids often live attached to large tree trunks.)

• Lan tỏa (v): to radiate, to spread out (often for positive influence, light, or fragrance).

  • Tinh thần lạc quan của cô ấy lan tỏa đến mọi người. (Her optimistic spirit radiated to everyone.)

Synonyms

• Verb: Spread, extend, propagate, creep.
• Noun: Orchid.

Related Idioms

• Lan tràn: To overflow; to spread uncontrollably (often with a negative connotation).

  • Nước lũ lan tràn khắp cánh đồng. (The floodwater overflowed across the entire field.)

• Mặt lan má phấn: A poetic idiom describing a beautiful face, smooth and fair like an orchid and powdered.

  • Thiếu nữ ấy mặt lan má phấn. (That young maiden has a face as fair as an orchid and powdered.)

verb

1. to pread; to run
   • lửa cháy lan qua nhà bên cạnh
     The fire spread to next house

noun

1. orchid
   • loài lan
     orchideae