Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Stifling, sweltering: Used to describe an intense, oppressive, and suffocating heat, typically of weather or an environment, that makes a person feel extremely uncomfortable and breathless.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Thời tiết hôm nay thật là ngốt người. (The weather today is truly stifling.)
  • Căn phòng nhỏ không có cửa sổ cảm thấy ngốt người. (The small room with no windows feels sweltering.)
  • Cái nóng ngốt người của mùa hè Hà Nội. (The stifling heat of a Hanoi summer.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is almost exclusively used to describe a subjective, physical sensation of heat affecting a person. It emphasizes the effect on human comfort rather than just a high temperature reading.

Variants and Related Words

• Ngột ngạt (adj): suffocating, stuffy, oppressive. This is a more common and general synonym that can refer to heat, lack of air, or even an oppressive atmosphere.
  • Không khí trong phòng họp thật ngột ngạt. (The atmosphere in the meeting room was really oppressive.)

Synonyms

• Stifling: Making one feel constrained and unable to breathe freely.
• Sweltering: Uncomfortably hot and humid.
• Suffocating: Causing difficulty in breathing.
• Oppressive (of heat): Unpleasantly overwhelming.

Related Idioms

• While "ngốt người" itself is not typically part of a longer idiom, it is a vivid descriptive phrase. A related expression is:
• Nóng như lửa đốt: Hot as burning fire. This idiom describes extreme heat but focuses more on temperature than on the suffocating sensation of "ngốt người."

1. Stifling, sweltering
   • Cái nóng ngốt người
     Stifling heat