mẹ ghẻ

Mẹ ghẻ đang đọc sách cùng con riêng của chồng trên chiếc ghế sofa.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • Stepmother: A woman who is married to one's father but is not one's biological mother. This is the primary and most common meaning.
   • Cruel or harsh stepmother: In a figurative sense, it can imply a stepmother who is unkind, unfair, or neglectful towards her stepchildren, drawing on a common cultural trope.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Sau khi bố tôi tái hôn, tôi có một mẹ ghẻ. (After my father remarried, I got a stepmother.)
  • Trong câu chuyện cổ tích, cô bé Lọ Lem bị mẹ ghẻ ngược đãi. (In the fairy tale, Cinderella was mistreated by her cruel stepmother.)

Advanced Usage

• The term can be used metaphorically to describe any authority figure or situation that is perceived as harsh, uncaring, or unfairly demanding.
  • Ông chủ đó khắc nghiệt như một mẹ ghẻ. (That boss is as harsh as a wicked stepmother.)

Variants and Related Words

• Dì ghẻ (n): A less common, regional synonym for "mẹ ghẻ" (stepmother).
• Cha dượng (n): Stepmother's male counterpart: stepfather.
• Con riêng (n): Stepchild.

Synonyms

• Stepmother: The neutral, standard term.
• Stepmom (informal): A casual term for stepmother.

Related Idioms

• Mẹ ghẻ con chồng: A phrase emphasizing the traditional fraught relationship between a stepmother and her husband's children (stepchildren).
  • Câu chuyện kể về mối quan hệ mẹ ghẻ con chồng đầy phức tạp. (The story tells of the complex relationship between a stepmother and her stepchildren.)