Definition

Noun: - Sawdust: Fine particles of wood produced by sawing, cutting, or sanding wood. It is the waste material that falls away when wood is processed.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Anh ấy dùng mạt cưa để lót chuồng gà. (He uses sawdust to line the chicken coop.)
  • Mạt cưa từ xưởng gỗ được tái chế thành viên nén.* (Sawdust from the wood workshop is recycled into pellets.)
  • Sàn nhà xưởng phủ đầy mạt cưa. (The factory floor is covered with sawdust.)

Advanced Usage

• "mạt cưa mướp đắng": A Vietnamese idiom. It describes a situation where two deceitful or cunning parties try to outwit each other, implying "trick for trick" or "tit for tat." The literal image is of mixing sawdust (useless, deceptive filler) with bitter melon seeds (also potentially deceptive in appearance).
  • Hai bên lừa đảo nhau, đúng là mạt cưa mướp đắng. (The two sides are swindling each other; it's a real case of tit for tat / a duel of deceivers.)

Variants and Related Words

• Dăm bào (noun): Wood shavings; often slightly larger and curlier than sawdust.
• Mùn cưa (noun): A synonym for mạt cưa, also meaning sawdust.

Synonyms

• Sawdust (English equivalent).
• Wood dust.

Related Idioms

• "Mạt cưa mướp đắng": As explained above, an idiom denoting a mutual struggle between two deceitful entities. It can be loosely translated as "trickster meets trickster," "cheat against cheat," or "set a thief to catch a thief."

noun

1. sawdust