mõ

Thân thiện

Một nhà sư gõ mõ trong chùa.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • Wooden bell, bamboo tocsin: A percussion instrument made of hollowed-out wood or bamboo, used to keep rhythm, accompany chanting, or signal events.
   • Village herald/crier: (Historical, often derogatory) A person from the lowest social class whose job was to beat the tocsin and announce village news in former times.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Instrument):
  • Các sư gõ mõ tụng kinh ở chùa. (The monks strike the wooden bell while chanting prayers in the pagoda.)
  • Tiếng mõ vang lên báo động có cháy. (The sound of the tocsin rang out to signal a fire.)
• Noun (Person):
  • Thằng mõ rao tin làng sắp có hội. (The village crier announced that the village festival is coming soon.)

Advanced Usage

• "Rao mõ": To announce news by beating the tocsin (literally) or to spread news publicly (figuratively).
  • Việc ấy chưa chắc đã đúng, đừng mang đi rao mõ khắp nơi. (That might not be true, don't go spreading it everywhere.)
• "Mõ trâu": A small wooden bell or rattle attached to a buffalo's neck.
  • Nghe tiếng mõ trâu là biết trâu nhà ai đang về. (Hearing the buffalo's bell tells you whose buffalo is returning.)

Variants and Related Words

• Mõ cá (n): Literally "fish clapper"; another type of wooden percussion instrument, often shaped like a fish, used in pagodas.
• Mõ tre (n): Bamboo tocsin.
• Mõ gỗ (n): Wooden bell/tocsin.

Synonyms

• Chuông gỗ: Wooden bell (specifically for the instrument).
• Người rao: Crier, town crier (for the person, without the derogatory connotation).

Related Idioms/Phrases

• "Mấy đời làm mõ": (Derogatory idiom) Literally "How many generations have been tocsin-beaters?"; used to look down on someone or to imply a lowly, disreputable family background.
  • Hắn ta mà dám nói tao? Mấy đời làm mõ rồi? (How dare he talk about me? What's his lowly background?)
• "Câm như hến / tượng mõ": (Simile) As mute as a clam/a tocsin statue; meaning completely silent or refusing to speak.
  • Hỏi mãi mà nó cứ câm như tượng mõ. (I kept asking, but he remained as silent as a statue.)

Học thuật

noun

1. Wooden bell, bamboo tocsin
   • sư gõ mõ tụng kinh ở chùa
     the bonzes strike the wooden bell while saying prayers in the pagoda
2. Village herald (belonging to the lowest social class, in former times)
3. THE EXTRAORDINARY SOUNDS OF TOCSIN: Tocsin, drum and horn are familiar musical instruments in Vietnam's countryside. However, tocsin is the most versatile with its extraordinary sounds, depending on whether it is found: in the forest, where it is used as a musical instrument, in the village, as a warning signal, or in the pagoda where it is essential for Buddhist rituals. In the village watch towerm, there used to be many wooden fish clappers. Depending on the rhythm of the beating, the villagers could be informed of different events: Festivities, thieves, fire, or strengthening dikes. In the highlands, small wooden rattles are attached to the necks of buffaloes to help their owners distinguish their cattle. These tocsins are oval-shaped ones. Their lengths and thickness also differ. Hence the peculiar sounds made by the buffaloes. In the pagoda, Mo Qua is used to accompany the prayers of Buddhist bronzes. Tocsins are made from different materials Some are made from the roots of a bamboo tree (widely used by the village crier), or from the trunk of an old bamboo (used in the watch tower because of the strident sound it produces).+As a result of years of study, Ta Tham, an elderly musician, managed to develop a new musical instrument comprising a series of tocsins. Thus this concert is composed of four kinds of tocsin: Ong, Qua, Trac and Thanh, meaning respectively tube, fruit, teak and sound. Trac tocsins, made of hard wood (such as teak or steel wood) and placed to the left, can produce clear and light sounds.The musician can use tube tocsins and teak tocsins to reflect exclusive sounds hitherto unknown in all kinds of tocsin. They can mock the sounds made by woodpeckers, partridges, frogs, insects or horse hooves. Since the cluster of tocsins was born, it has become highly valued by many art troupes nationwide. It has been awarded a prize by the Institute of Music under the Ministry of Culture and Information