Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Distant and misty, mistily distant: Describes a scene or object that is both far away and obscured by haze, mist, or atmospheric conditions, creating a vague, indistinct, and poetic visual impression.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Phía chân trời, những dãy núi hiện lên mù khơi. (On the horizon, the mountain ranges appeared distant and misty.)
  • Con thuyền nhỏ dần, mù khơi trong sương chiều. (The small boat gradually faded, mistily distant in the evening fog.)
  • Cảnh vật nơi đây trông thật mù khơi và huyền ảo. (The scenery here looks truly hazy and distant, almost illusory.)

Advanced Usage

• Used in literary and descriptive contexts: "Mù khơi" is primarily used in written Vietnamese, especially in poetry, literature, and descriptive prose, to evoke a sense of romantic, melancholic, or mysterious distance. It is not typically used in everyday conversational speech.
  • Trong thơ ca, hình ảnh "mù khơi" thường gợi lên nỗi nhớ và sự xa cách. (In poetry, the image of "misty distance" often evokes longing and separation.)

Variants and Related Words

• Mù mịt (adj): Densely foggy/misty; used to describe thick fog or a situation of complete obscurity.
  • Sương mù mù mịt phủ kín thành phố. (A dense fog covered the city.)
• Xa mờ (adj): Dimly distant, faint; describes something far away and unclear.
  • Những ký ức tuổi thơ giờ đã xa mờ. (Childhood memories are now faint and distant.)
• Xa xăm (adj): Far-off, remote (can refer to physical distance or abstract concepts like time).
  • Một miền đất xa xăm. (A far-off land.)

Synonyms

• Mờ ảo: Illusory, vague, dim.
• Xa xôi mờ ảo: Far-off and illusory.

Notes on Meaning

• Poetic and Archaic Nuance: "Mù khơi" carries a classical, poetic tone. Its usage in modern Vietnamese is almost exclusively literary. The reference definition "à perte de vue" (French for "as far as the eye can see") captures the sense of vast, endless distance implied by the word.
• Combination of Elements: The word combines "mù" (misty, foggy, blurred) and "khơi" (the open sea, the deep blue), originally evoking the image of a vast, hazy seascape. Its meaning has expanded to describe any distant, mist-obscured vista.

1. Distan and misty, mistily distant