Definition

1. Adjective:

   • The tiniest amount; the slightest bit; a minute particle. Used to emphasize an extremely small, negligible, or insignificant quantity or degree of something, often in negative constructions to mean "not at all."

2. Adverb:

   • In the slightest; at all. Used to modify a verb or adjective to intensify a negation, meaning "to even the smallest extent."

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • Không có một mảy may hy vọng. (There is not the slightest bit of hope.)
  • Anh ta không để ý một mảy may nào. (He didn't pay the tiniest bit of attention.)

• Adverb:

  • Cô ấy không mảy may sợ hãi. (She wasn't afraid in the slightest.)
  • Tôi không mảy may nghi ngờ anh. (I don't doubt you at all.)

Advanced Usage

• The word is almost exclusively used in formal, literary, or emphatic contexts to strengthen a statement of absence or negation.
• It frequently pairs with "không" (not) or "chẳng" (not) to form complete negations like "không... mảy may" (not... in the least).

Variants and Related Words

• Mảy (n): An obsolete or poetic term for a very small unit or particle, similar to a speck or grain. "Mảy may" is an intensified, reduplicative form of this word.

Synonyms

• Adjective: A shred, a jot, an iota, a trace, a whit.
• Adverb: The least bit, in the least, whatsoever, remotely.

Related Idioms

• Không mảy may dao động: To not waver in the slightest.

  • Cô ấy giữ vững lập trường, không mảy may dao động. (She held her ground, not wavering in the slightest.)

• Không mảy may suy nghĩ: To not think (about it) at all.

  • Anh ấy hành động mà không mảy may suy nghĩ về hậu quả. (He acted without thinking about the consequences at all.)