lẩy bẩy

Ông cụ đi lẩy bẩy với chiếc gậy trên con đường làng.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Trembling, shaky, unsteady: Describes a physical state where a person's hands, legs, or body shake involuntarily, often due to old age, weakness, illness, or fear, resulting in unstable movement.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Ông cụ cầm tách trà, tay lẩy bẩy. (The old man held the teacup with a trembling hand.)
  • Chân bà đi lẩy bẩy trên cầu thang. (Her legs were shaky as she walked on the stairs.)
  • Sau cơn sốt, người nó vẫn còn lẩy bẩy. (After the fever, his body was still unsteady.)

Advanced Usage

• The word is often used in its reduplicated form "lẩy bà lẩy bẩy" to intensify the meaning, emphasizing a more severe or pronounced state of shakiness.
  • Bà tôi già yếu, đi lại lẩy bà lẩy bẩy. (My grandmother is old and frail, walking with a pronounced shake.)

Variants and Related Words

• Run rẩy (adj): Also means to tremble or shiver, often from cold or fear. It can be synonymous but may imply a finer, quicker tremor.
• Bủn rủn (adj): Describes a feeling of weakness and shakiness in the limbs, often from fear or shock, focusing more on the sensation than the visible movement.

Synonyms

• Tremulous: Shaking or quivering slightly.
• Shaky: Unsteady in movement.
• Faltering: Moving unsteadily or hesitantly.

Related Idioms

• While "lẩy bẩy" itself is not typically part of a fixed idiom, it vividly describes the physical state common in expressions of old age or infirmity.
  • Tuổi già sức yếu, đi đứng lẩy bẩy. (Old age and declining strength, walking unsteadily.)