ngấu
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Adjective:
- Ripe / Fermented / Decomposed: Used to describe food, especially pickles, fermented items, or compost, that has reached a state of complete readiness through a natural process.
- To a high degree / Intensely: Used as an intensifier with certain adjectives, particularly "đói" (hungry), to mean extremely or intensely.
Verb (colloquial):
- To gobble / To devour / To eat voraciously: To eat something quickly and greedily, with large bites.
Usage Examples
Adjective:
- Mắm cá này ngấu rồi. (This fish pickle is ripe/fully fermented.)
- Phân xanh đã ngấu, có thể bón cho cây. (The green manure is fully decomposed and can be used to fertilize the plants.)
- Nó đói ngấu. (He is starving / intensely hungry.)
Verb:
- Nó ngấu một lúc hết cả con gà. (He gobbled down a whole chicken in a moment.)
- Đứa trẻ ngấu cả đĩa xôi. (The child devoured the whole plate of sticky rice.)
Advanced Usage
- The verb form is often used in the reduplicated form "ngấu nghiến" to emphasize the manner of eating voraciously.
- Nó ăn ngấu nghiến như hổ đói. (He ate voraciously like a starving tiger.)
Variants and Related Words
- Ngấu nghiến (v): To gobble up, to wolf down. This is a more common and expressive variant of the verb "ngấu."
- Ăn ngấu (v phrase): To eat greedily.
Synonyms
- Verb: Gobble, devour, wolf down, gorge.
- Adjective (for food): Ripe (for fermentation), cured, decomposed, ready.
- Adjective (as intensifier): Extremely, intensely, ravenously.
Related Idioms
- Đói ngấu: An idiomatic phrase meaning "ravenously hungry" or "starving." The word "ngấu" here functions as an inseparable intensifier.
- Sau chuyến leo núi, chúng tôi đói ngấu. (After the hiking trip, we were ravenously hungry.)
- (thông tục) Gobble, devour
- Ngấu một lúc hết cả con gàTo gobble a whole chicken in a moment
- Ripe
- Mắm cá này ngấu rồiThis fish pickle is ripe
- To ahigh degree
- Đói ngấuTo be hungry to a high degree, to be starving with hunger