mèo
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- Cat: A small domesticated carnivorous mammal with soft fur, a short snout, and retractile claws, often kept as a pet or for catching mice.
- (Slang) Girlfriend, mistress: A colloquial and sometimes pejorative term for a young woman, especially a girlfriend or mistress.
Usage Examples
- Noun (Animal):
- Nhà tôi có nuôi một con mèo. (My family keeps a cat.)
- Con mèo đó rất thích nằm phơi nắng. (That cat really likes to sunbathe.)
- Noun (Slang):
- Anh ta dắt theo con mèo mới. (He brought his new girlfriend along.)
- Chuyện mèo má gà đồng. (Affairs related to promiscuous men and women.)
Advanced Usage
- "mèo già hóa cáo": An old, experienced, and cunning person (literally: "an old cat turns into a fox").
- Đừng coi thường ông ấy, mèo già hóa cáo đấy. (Don't underestimate him; he's a sly old fox.)
- "như mèo thấy mỡ": To show extreme eagerness or craving (literally: "like a cat seeing fat").
- Thằng bé nhìn gói kẹo như mèo thấy mỡ. (The boy looked at the candy pack with eager eyes.)
- "chó chê mèo lắm lông": The pot calling the kettle black (literally: "the dog criticizing the cat for being too hairy").
- Anh chê tôi lười? Chó chê mèo lắm lông! (You call me lazy? That's the pot calling the kettle black!)
Variants and Related Words
- Mèo cái: She-cat, female cat.
- Mèo con: Kitten.
- Mèo rừng: Wildcat.
- Mèo mả gà đồng: A promiscuous person (derogatory, literally: "tomb cat and field chicken").
- Họ mèo: The feline family (Felidae).
Synonyms
- Con vật: Animal (general).
- Mão: (Archaic, Sino-Vietnamese) Cat. Also used in some dialects.
- Ả, gái: Girl, woman (for the slang meaning).
Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)
- Nằm mèo: To lie curled up like a cat.
- Nó nằm mèo trên ghế sofa. (He/she lay curled up on the sofa.)
- Giấu như mèo giấu cứt: To hide something very poorly (vulgar, literally: "to hide like a cat hides its poop").
- Nó giấu tiền giấu như mèo giấu cứt, ai mà chả thấy. (He hid the money so poorly that everyone could see it.)
Related Idioms
- Chó treo, mèo đậy: To take appropriate preventive measures for different situations (literally: "dogs should be tied up, cats should be covered").
- Phải biết chó treo mèo đậy chứ. (You must know the right way to handle different things.)
- Mèo khen mèo dài đuôi: Self-praise (literally: "a cat praising another cat for having a long tail").
- Bài viết của anh ấy toàn là mèo khen mèo dài đuôi. (His article is full of self-praise.)