Definition

1. Verb:
   • To act in a coquettish or charming manner: To behave in a deliberately cute, flirtatious, or affectedly graceful way to attract attention or appear more attractive.
   • To give as a keepsake / for remembrance: To give someone a gift as a token to remember the giver by, to create a memento of a relationship.

Usage Examples

• Verb (to act coquettishly):
  • Cô ấy hay làm duyên trước mặt mọi người. (She often acts coquettishly in front of others.)
  • Đừng làm duyên nữa, hãy tự nhiên đi. (Stop putting on airs, be natural.)
• Verb (to give as a keepsake):
  • Tôi tặng bạn chiếc vòng tay này để làm duyên. (I give you this bracelet as a keepsake.)

Advanced Usage

• The phrase "miệng làm duyên" (literally "mouth making charm") describes the specific act of pursing one's lips in a cute, pouty, or heart-shaped manner as a coquettish gesture.
  • Cô bé chu miệng làm duyên với mẹ. (The little girl pouted her lips cutely at her mother.)

Variants and Related Words

• Làm điệu (v): A close synonym meaning to act in a coquettish or dolled-up manner, often with a slightly stronger connotation of pretense.
• Duyên dáng (adj): Graceful, charming, elegant.

Synonyms

• To flirt: to behave as if attracted to someone.
• To mince / to simper: to walk or speak in an affected, delicate way.
• To give a memento: to give a keepsake or souvenir.

Related Idioms

• Làm duyên làm dáng: An extended, slightly more emphatic phrase meaning to put on airs, to act in an excessively coquettish or pretentiously charming manner.
  • Cô ấy suốt ngày chỉ biết làm duyên làm dáng. (All day long, she only knows how to put on airs.)

1. Remember one another
   • Tặng cái khăn để làm duyên
     To give someone a scarf so that he and one remember one another, to give someone a scarf for a keepsake
2. Mince
   • Người thì xấu mà hay làm duyên
     To mince though one is ugly