Definition

1. Adjective (Tính từ):
   • Sticky, gooey, viscous: Describes a substance that is thick, sticky, and tends to adhere, often unpleasantly so. It emphasizes a state of being excessively or persistently sticky.
   • Annoyingly persistent, clingy: Used figuratively to describe a person or behavior that is irritatingly sticky, clingy, or hard to get rid of, like a sticky substance.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau cơn mưa, đường đất trở nên nhây nhây và khó đi. (After the rain, the dirt road became sticky and gooey and difficult to walk on.)
  • Keo dán này nhây nhây quá, dính hết cả tay. (This glue is too sticky, it got all over my hands.)
  • Đứa trẻ cứ nhây nhây bám lấy mẹ không chịu rời. (The child kept clingily sticking to its mother, refusing to let go.)
  • Anh ta có kiểu theo đuổi nhây nhây khiến cô ấy rất khó chịu. (He has a persistently annoying way of pursuing her that makes her very uncomfortable.)

Advanced Usage

• The word "nhây nhây" is a láy word (reduplicative) derived from the root "nhây". The reduplication intensifies the meaning, adding a sense of excess, pervasiveness, or a negative connotation. While "nhây" can mean sticky, "nhây nhây" often implies an undesirable, troublesome, or irritating level of stickiness or persistence.

Variants and Related Words

• Nhây (Tính từ/Động từ): Sticky; to be sticky or act in a sticky, clinging manner. This is the root word.
  • Chất lỏng nhây lại thành một khối. (The liquid congealed into a sticky mass.)
• Dính (Tính từ/Động từ): To stick, to be sticky/adhesive. This is a more common, neutral synonym for the physical state.
• Bám (Động từ): To cling, to adhere. Often used for figurative clinginess.

Synonyms

• Dính nhớp: Sticky and slimy.
• Dính dính: Slightly sticky (less intense than "nhây nhây").
• Lì (lì nhây): Stubbornly persistent (often combined with "nhây" in "lì nhây").

Related Idioms/Phrases

• Lì nhây: Describes someone who is stubbornly persistent, annoyingly tenacious, or refuses to go away despite being rejected.
  • Thằng bé lì nhây đòi mua đồ chơi. (The boy was stubbornly persistent in demanding to buy a toy.)

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