Definitions

1. Adjective:
   • Moved, touched, emotionally stirred: Describes a state where one's heart or emotions are deeply affected, often by something sad, pitiful, or poignant, leading to feelings of compassion, sorrow, or sympathy.
   • Heart-wrenching, disheartened: Can also describe a feeling of one's spirit sinking or feeling dispirited due to worry, disappointment, or a distressing situation.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Nhìn cảnh gia đình ly tán, ai cũng thấy nao lòng. (Seeing the scene of a separated family, everyone felt moved/touched.)
  • Tin tức đó khiến tôi nao lòng suốt mấy ngày. (That news left me disheartened/heart-wrenching for several days.)
  • Câu chuyện của cô ấy thật sự nao lòng. (Her story is truly heart-wrenching.)

Advanced Usage

• "Làm nao lòng": to cause someone to feel moved/disheartened.
  • Cảnh hoàng hôn nơi xứ lạ đã làm nao lòng kẻ lữ hành. (The sunset in a foreign land moved/touched the traveler's heart.)
• Often used in literary, descriptive, or emotional contexts to convey deep, melancholic, or compassionate feelings.

Variants and Related Words

• Nao nao (adj): A similar feeling of slight sadness, melancholy, or emotional flutter.
  • Lòng tôi nao nao khi mùa thu tới. (My heart feels a flutter of melancholy when autumn comes.)
• Xao xuyến (adj): Agitated, fluttered (of emotions), often due to excitement or nervousness, but can overlap with "nao lòng" in poetic use for emotional stirring.

Synonyms

• Cảm động: moved, touched (more general, can be used for happy or sad touching moments).
• Xót xa: to feel pain/sorrow for someone/something; heartache.
• Buồn bã: sad, sorrowful (a more general term for sadness).

Notes on Meaning

• "Nao lòng" specifically implies an emotional stirring that originates from and affects the heart ("lòng"). It is more profound and introspective than simple sadness.
• It often carries a connotation of empathy or pity evoked by an external, usually sorrowful, circumstance. The feeling can be a mix of sadness, compassion, and helplessness.
• While the reference translates it as "moved," its nuance in Vietnamese is often closer to "heart-wrenching" or "disheartening" when the cause is negative.

adj

1. moved