lấp la lấp lánh
Definition
- Adjective:
- Glittering, shimmering, twinkling: Describes a soft, intermittent, and often moving light that appears and disappears, creating a gentle sparkling effect. It implies a delicate, flickering brightness, less intense and more scattered than a steady shine.
- Figurative use: Describes something that is superficially attractive or showy but lacks depth or substance, appearing enticing in a fleeting way.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Những ngôi sao lấp la lấp lánh trên bầu trời đêm. (The stars are twinkling in the night sky.)
- Ánh đèn từ những con thuyền lấp la lấp lánh trên mặt sông. (The lights from the boats shimmered on the river's surface.)
- Lời hứa của anh ấy nghe thật lấp la lấp lánh nhưng không có cơ sở. (His promise sounds glittering but has no foundation.)
Advanced Usage
- The phrase "lấp la lấp lánh" is a reduplicative form, a common feature in Vietnamese, which intensifies the descriptive quality of the root word "lấp lánh" (to sparkle). The infix "la" adds a sense of movement, irregularity, and gentle dispersal of light.
Variants and Related Words
- Lấp lánh (adj): to sparkle, to glint. A more common and slightly stronger term for sparkling.
- Viên kim cương lấp lánh dưới ánh đèn. (The diamond sparkled under the light.)
- Lóng lánh (adj): to glisten, to shimmer (often with a wet or liquid quality).
- Những giọt sương lóng lánh trên lá. (Dewdrops glisten on the leaves.)
Synonyms
- Twinkling: shining with a flickering light.
- Shimmering: shining with a soft, wavering light.
- Glittering: shining with bright, reflected points of light.
- Glimmering: shining faintly with a wavering light.
Related Idioms
- While "lấp la lấp lánh" itself is not typically part of a fixed idiom, its meaning contributes to the imagery in descriptive phrases about superficial charm or elusive beauty, such as the concept of something being "chỉ hào nhoáng bề ngoài" (only ostentatious on the outside).