nhọ mặt người
Definition
- Noun phrase:
- The time of dusk / early evening: A fixed phrase referring specifically to the brief, dimly lit period of time immediately after sunset, when daylight has faded but night has not fully fallen. It describes the moment when faces become difficult to clearly distinguish.
Usage Examples
- Noun phrase:
- Trời đã nhọ mặt người, chim bắt đầu về tổ. (It was already dusk, and the birds began returning to their nests.)
- Chúng tôi về đến đầu làng lúc nhọ mặt người. (We reached the village entrance at early evening.)
- Công việc đồng áng thường kết thúc lúc nhọ mặt người. (Farm work usually finishes at dusk.)
Advanced Usage
- The phrase is primarily used in descriptive, literary, or traditional contexts to evoke a specific time of day and its associated atmosphere. It is less common in modern, urban conversational speech.
Variants and Related Words
Chập tối (n): dusk, twilight. A more common and general synonym.
- Mọi người tập trung lúc chập tối. (Everyone gathered at dusk.)
Hoàng hôn (n): sunset, twilight. Often refers to the visual phenomenon of the setting sun.
- Hoàng hôn trên biển rất đẹp. (The sunset over the sea is very beautiful.)
Tối hẳn (phrase): when it is fully dark.
- Đợi đến lúc tối hẳn chúng ta mới đi. (We will only go when it is fully dark.)
Synonyms
- Dusk: The darker stage of twilight.
- Twilight: The soft, diffused light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon.
- Gloaming: (Literary) twilight, dusk.
Related Idioms
- Nhọ mịt: (Northern Vietnamese dialect) pitch dark, very dark. This phrase intensifies the darkness implied in "nhọ mặt người."
- Trong rừng, nhọ mịt chẳng thấy gì. (In the forest, it was pitch dark and you couldn't see anything.)