Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Weary and laborious: Describes a state of physical or mental fatigue resulting from hard work, exertion, or demanding effort. It emphasizes the toll of strenuous activity.
   • Arduous and tiring: Characterizes a task, job, or period of labor that is exhausting and requires significant effort.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau một ngày lao động mệt nhọc, anh ấy ngủ thiếp đi. (After a day of arduous labor, he fell asleep.)
  • Công việc đồng áng thật sự mệt nhọc. (Farm work is truly wearying.)
  • Họ cảm thấy mệt nhọc sau chuyến đi dài. (They felt weary after the long journey.)

Advanced Usage

• Used to describe not just a person's feeling, but also the inherent nature of an activity that causes fatigue.
  • Hành trình mệt nhọc cuối cùng cũng kết thúc. (The arduous journey finally ended.)

Variants and Related Words

• Mệt mỏi (adj): tired, fatigued. Often used more for general tiredness, while mệt nhọc strongly implies tiredness from hard work.

  • Cô ấy mệt mỏi vì thức khuya. (She is tired from staying up late.)

• Nhọc nhằn (adj): laborious, toilsome. Very similar in meaning to mệt nhọc, often used interchangeably.

  • Cuộc sống nhọc nhằn của người nông dân. (The toilsome life of a farmer.)

Synonyms

• Weary: feeling or showing tiredness.
• Arduous: involving or requiring strenuous effort; difficult and tiring.
• Laborious: requiring considerable time and effort.
• Toilsome: (literary) involving hard or exhausting work.

Related Idioms

• Một nắng hai sương: (literally "one sun, two dews") describes a life of hard, early labor, often in farming. This concept is closely related to the state of .
  • Người nông dân làm việc một nắng hai sương. (Farmers work tirelessly from dawn to dusk.)