Definition

1. Verb:
   • To bare one's teeth, to show one's teeth: The primary meaning refers to the action of pulling back the lips to expose the teeth. This can be done when laughing, sneering, grimacing, or as an animal's threat display.
   • To die showing one's teeth: A specific, idiomatic usage meaning to die with a grimace or rictus, often implying an unpleasant or violent death.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Con chó nhăn răng gầm gừ khi người lạ đến gần. (The dog bared its teeth and growled when the stranger approached.)
  • Đừng có nhăn răng cười khi tôi đang nói chuyện nghiêm túc. (Don't you grin/show your teeth when I'm talking seriously.)
  • Tên cướp nhăn răng đe dọa nạn nhân. (The robber bared his teeth to threaten the victim.)
  • Chết nhăn răng (To die with one's teeth bared / To die a grim death).

Advanced Usage

• "chết nhăn răng": An idiom meaning "to die with a grimace," often used to describe a bad, violent, or undignified death. It carries a negative or contemptuous connotation.
  • Kẻ phản bội cuối cùng cũng chết nhăn răng. (The traitor finally died a grim death.)

Variants and Related Words

• Nhe răng: A more neutral synonym for "to bare/show one's teeth." "Nhăn răng" can sometimes imply a more forced, ugly, or threatening exposure of teeth.
• Cười nhăn răng: To grin broadly (often in a silly, foolish, or insincere way).
• Nhăn nhó: To grimace (in pain or displeasure). This shares the root "nhăn" (to wrinkle) and relates to facial contortions.

Synonyms

• Nhe răng: To bare teeth.
• Cười để lộ răng: To smile showing teeth.
• Cười gằn: To sneer, to laugh scornfully (implies showing teeth).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Nhăn răng ra: An emphatic form of "nhăn răng," adding "ra" (out) for emphasis on the action of exposing the teeth.
  • Hơi một tí là nó nhăn răng ra cười. (At the slightest thing, he grins broadly.)

Related Idioms

• Chết nhăn răng: As explained above, to die with teeth bared, implying a bad death.
• Cười nhăn răng: To give a broad, often foolish or inappropriate, grin.

1. Bare one's teeth, show one's teeth
   • Chết nhăn răng
     To be stiff in death