Definition

1. Noun:

   • The mouth: The part of the face used for eating, speaking, and breathing.
   • An opening or entrance: The open part or top of a container, hole, or geographical feature.
   • A person to feed: A term used to count a person as a consumer of food, especially within a household.

2. Adverb:

   • Orally / Verbally: Pertaining to spoken communication, not written.

Usage Examples

• Noun (body part):

  • Cô ấy mỉm cười bằng miệng. (She smiles with her mouth.)
  • Đánh răng và súc miệng. (Brush your teeth and rinse your mouth.)

• Noun (opening):

  • Hãy đậy kín miệng chai. (Please close the bottle mouth tightly.)
  • Chúng tôi nhìn xuống miệng giếng. (We looked down the mouth of the well.)

• Noun (person to feed):

  • Ông ấy là lao động chính, nuôi bốn miệng ăn. (He is the breadwinner, feeding four mouths.)

• Adverb (orally):

  • Giáo viên cho một bài kiểm tra miệng. (The teacher gave an oral exam.)
  • Tôi chỉ nhắn miệng cho anh ấy. (I only gave him a verbal message.)

Advanced Usage

• "miệng đời": public opinion, gossip (literally "the mouth of the people").

  • Đừng quan tâm quá nhiều đến miệng đời. (Don't pay too much attention to public gossip.)

• "miệng ăn núi lở": A proverb meaning great consumption leads to great loss (literally "mouths eating, mountains collapsing").

Variants and Related Words

• Miệng lưỡi (n): Eloquence, way of speaking.

  • Anh ấy có miệng lưỡi rất khéo. (He has a very clever way with words.)

• Miệng cười (n): A smile (literally "smiling mouth").

  • Cô ấy có một miệng cười rất tươi. (She has a very bright smile.)

Synonyms

• Mouth: The oral cavity.
• Opening: An aperture or entrance.
• Oral: Relating to speech.

Related Idioms

• "Miệng hùm gan sứa": To be all talk and no action; brave in words but cowardly in heart (literally "tiger's mouth, jellyfish's liver").

  • Hắn ta chỉ là miệng hùm gan sứa. (He is all bark and no bite.)

• "Miệng nam mô, bụng bồ dao găm": To have honey in the mouth but a dagger in the heart; to be two-faced (literally "mouth chanting 'Buddha', belly holding a dagger").

• "Há miệng chờ sung": To wait idly for good things to happen without effort (literally "to open one's mouth waiting for a fig to fall").

noun

1. mouth
   • súc miệng
     to rinse one's mouth
   • miệng giếng
     mouth of a well