nương rẫy
Definition
- Noun:
- Swidden fields; slash-and-burn farmland: Land, typically on hillsides or in forests, that is cleared for cultivation by cutting and burning the vegetation. This is a traditional form of agriculture.
- Upland fields; hill farms: Farmland located in mountainous or hilly regions, as opposed to wet rice paddies in lowland areas.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Người dân tộc sống chủ yếu dựa vào nương rẫy. (The ethnic minority people live mainly on swidden fields.)
- Họ phát và đốt một khoảng rừng để làm nương rẫy. (They clear and burn a section of forest to create slash-and-burn farmland.)
- Trên những nương rẫy này, họ trồng ngô, sắn và lúa. (On these upland fields, they grow corn, cassava, and rice.)
Advanced Usage
- The term "nương rẫy" often carries connotations of a traditional, sometimes migratory, way of life and agriculture. It can be used to contrast with modern, settled farming.
- Cuộc sống nương rẫy đòi hỏi sự di chuyển theo mùa vụ. (The swidden farming life requires seasonal movement.)
Variants and Related Words
- Làm nương, làm rẫy (v): To practice swidden/slash-and-burn agriculture; to farm on upland fields.
- Bà con đã lên núi để làm rẫy. (The villagers have gone to the mountains to farm the hillsides.)
- Rẫy (n): Often used interchangeably with "nương rẫy", but can specifically refer to a newly cleared field.
- Nương (n): Can refer to an upland field, sometimes more established than a .
Synonyms
- Swidden: A plot of land cleared for farming by slashing and burning vegetation.
- Milpa: A term from Mesoamerica for a swidden field, often used in anthropological contexts.
- Kaingin: A term from the Philippines for slash-and-burn agriculture.
- Upland farm: A general term for farmland on higher elevations.
Related Concepts
- Du canh du cư (n): Shifting cultivation; a farming system where farmers move from one plot to another, often associated with nương rẫy.
- Đất dốc (n): Sloping land; describes the typical topography of nương rẫy.
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Burnt-over land, milpa, kaingin
