làm rẽ
Definition
- Verb:
- To take on (a rice field, etc.) under a sharecropping agreement: This term specifically refers to the act of entering into a métayage or sharecropping arrangement, where one cultivates land owned by another in return for a share of the produce.
Usage Examples
- Verb:
- Ông ấy muốn làm rẽ thửa ruộng đó. (He wants to take on that rice field as a sharecropper.)
- Gia đình họ đã làm rẽ mảnh đất này được ba năm. (Their family has been sharecropping this plot of land for three years.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is highly specific to agricultural and historical land tenure systems. It implies a formal or traditional agreement between the landowner and the cultivator.
Variants and Related Words
- Làm rẽ, cấy rẽ (v): to sharecrop, to farm as a tenant. These are near-identical variants.
- Người nông dân nghèo thường phải đi cấy rẽ. (Poor farmers often had to work as sharecroppers.)
Synonyms
- To sharecrop: To farm land owned by another person and pay rent with a portion of the crop.
- To tenant-farm: To cultivate land as a tenant.
Notes on Usage
- "Làm rẽ" is an archaic or specialized term primarily found in historical, legal, or regional contexts describing traditional Vietnamese agricultural practices. It is rarely used in modern everyday conversation.