Definition

1. Noun:
   • Middle age, half of a lifetime: Refers to the period of life around 40-50 years old, or more generally, to a significant portion of one's life that has passed.
   • An incomplete or imperfect state: Used to describe something left unfinished or a life cut short.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Bà ấy đã trải qua nửa đời ở nước ngoài. (She has spent half her life abroad.)
  • Nửa đời góa bụa, bà ấy nuôi con một mình. (Having become a widow in middle age, she raised her children alone.)
  • Câu chuyện của ông ấy chỉ kể được nửa đời. (His story only tells half of his life.)

Advanced Usage

• "nửa đời nửa đoạn" (idiomatic/colloquial): To die in middle age; to leave something half-finished or incomplete.
  • Công việc này đang nửa đời nửa đoạn, cần ai đó tiếp tục. (This work is left half-done and needs someone to continue it.)

Variants and Related Words

• Nửa (adj/noun): Half.
• Đời (noun): Life, lifetime.
• Trung niên (noun): Middle age (a more formal synonym).

Synonyms

• Trung niên: Middle age.
• Giữa đời: Midlife.

Related Idioms

• Nửa đời nửa đoạn: As described above, meaning incomplete or cut short at midlife.
• Nửa đời sương gió: Having experienced many hardships in half a lifetime.
  • Ông ấy đã trải qua nửa đời sương gió. (He has gone through a stormy half-life / He has experienced many hardships in his life.)

1. Middle age
   • Nửa đời góa bụa
     To become a widow at middle age
   • Nửa đời nửa đoạn (thông tục)
     To die at middle age, to fair at half-way through a job..