Definition

1. Verb phrase:
   • To suffer from insomnia / to have sleeplessness: The primary meaning of "mất ngủ" is the inability to fall asleep or to stay asleep, resulting in a lack of sleep. It describes the state or experience of being unable to sleep.
   • To lose sleep: A more literal translation, indicating the deprivation or absence of sleep, often due to worry, illness, or other factors.

Usage Examples

• Verb phrase:
  • Cô ấy thường xuyên mất ngủ vì lo lắng. (She frequently suffers from insomnia due to anxiety.)
  • Sau chấn thương, anh ấy bắt đầu mất ngủ. (After the injury, he began to have sleeplessness.)
  • Tôi mất ngủ cả đêm vì tiếng ồn. (I lost sleep all night because of the noise.)

Advanced Usage

• "chứng mất ngủ": insomnia (as a medical condition or syndrome).
  • Bác sĩ chẩn đoán anh ấy mắc chứng mất ngủ mãn tính. (The doctor diagnosed him with chronic insomnia.)

Variants and Related Words

• Thức đêm (v): to stay up all night (can be by choice, not necessarily due to insomnia).

  • Anh ấy thức đêm để học bài. (He stayed up all night to study.)

• Trằn trọc (v): to toss and turn (describing restless movement when unable to sleep).

  • Bà ấy trằn trọc mãi mà không ngủ được. (She tossed and turned but couldn't sleep.)

Synonyms

• Insomnia: the condition of being unable to sleep.
• Sleeplessness: the state of not having or getting sleep.
• Wakefulness: inability to sleep, though sometimes implies being alert.

Related Idioms

• Mất ngủ vì gà gáy: to lose sleep over something trivial (literally: to lose sleep because of a crowing rooster). This idiom means to worry excessively about a minor issue.
  • Đừng mất ngủ vì gà gáy, chuyện nhỏ thôi mà. (Don't lose sleep over a crowing rooster; it's a small matter.)

1. lack of sleep