Definition

1. Noun:
   • A person who is left to rot (in prison): A slang term referring to someone who is imprisoned for a very long time, often until they die or waste away, implying a state of being forgotten or decaying in confinement.
   • A lifer; a long-term prisoner: Informally describes a prisoner serving an extremely long or life sentence.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Hắn là một mọt xác trong nhà tù đó. (He is a person left to rot in that prison.)
  • Bọn tội phạm ấy sẽ thành mọt xác. (Those criminals will become lifers / will be left to rot.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is highly colloquial and carries a strong, vivid connotation of decay and abandonment. It is not a formal legal term but a vivid slang expression.
• It is often used for dramatic or emphatic effect to describe the ultimate, grim fate of a serious criminal.

Variants and Related Words

• Mọt (noun): Literally "woodworm" or "bookworm." In this compound, it metaphorically suggests something that slowly consumes or decays from within.
• Xác (noun): Literally "corpse" or "body." Combined, the phrase paints a vivid picture of a body being consumed/rotting away.

Synonyms

• Tù nhân chung thân (noun): Lifelong prisoner (a more formal/neutral term).
• Kẻ bị bỏ rơi trong ngục (phrase): Someone abandoned in jail.

Related Idioms/Phrases

• Ngồi tù đến mọt xác (idiom): To sit in prison until one rots; to be left to rot in prison.
  • Tên buôn người bị kết án ngồi tù đến mọt xác. (The human trafficker was sentenced to rot in prison.)

1. (thông tục) Rot
   • Ngồi tù đến mọt xác
     To be left to rot in prison