Definition

1. Verb:

   • To spread: To extend over a surface or area gradually, often describing a liquid, color, stain, or intangible thing like fire or disease moving outward from a point of origin.
   • To seep / to bleed: To diffuse or soak into a surrounding area, often creating an irregular, blotchy pattern, especially for liquids on absorbent surfaces or dyes on fabric.

2. Verb (descriptive):

   • To be blotchy / to be streaked: To have an uneven appearance with patches or streaks of a different color mixed into a base color.

Usage Examples

• Verb (to spread):

  • Nước loang khắp mặt bàn. (The water spread all over the table.)
  • Tin đồn đã loang rất nhanh. (The rumor spread very quickly.)
  • Lửa bắt đầu loang sang các ngôi nhà khác. (The fire began to spread to other houses.)

• Verb (to be blotchy):

  • Chiếc áo trắng bị loang mực. (The white shirt was stained with blotches of ink.)
  • Màu nhuộm bị loang không đều. (The dye color was streaked unevenly.)

Advanced Usage

• Used to describe the pervasive, often unstoppable nature of a phenomenon.
  • Sự bất mãn loang ra trong cộng đồng. (The discontent spread within the community.)

Variants and Related Words

• Loang lổ (adj): Describes a surface covered with many irregular spots or patches of different colors.

  • Bức tường loang lổ vết ẩm mốc. (The wall was blotchy with damp stains.)

• Loang ra (phrasal verb): To spread out.

  • Vết dầu đang loang ra trên mặt nước. (The oil slick is spreading out on the water's surface.)

Synonyms

• Spread: To extend over a larger area.
• Diffuse: To spread or cause to spread over a wide area.
• Bleed: For a liquid or color to spread into another material.
• Seep: To flow or leak slowly.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Loang như vết dầu: To spread like an oil slick; used to describe something (often negative like a rumor or problem) that expands rapidly and uncontrollably.
  • Cuộc khủng hoảng tài chính loang như vết dầu. (The financial crisis spread like an oil slick.)

verb

1. to spread