nước gạo
Definition
- Noun:
- Rice water: The cloudy, starchy liquid obtained from rinsing or soaking uncooked rice. It contains suspended rice bran and nutrients.
- Water used for cooking rice: The water in which rice has been boiled, sometimes consumed as a beverage or used in traditional practices.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Bà tôi thường dùng nước gạo để tưới cây. (My grandmother often uses rice water to water plants.)
- Nước gạo sau khi vo có thể dùng để rửa mặt. (The rice water after rinsing can be used to wash the face.)
- Uống nước gạo luộc được cho là có lợi cho sức khỏe. (Drinking the water from boiled rice is considered beneficial for health.)
Advanced Usage
- In traditional beauty routines, "nước gạo" is often fermented slightly and used as a skin toner or hair rinse.
- Cô ấy ủ nước gạo trong ba ngày trước khi dùng dưỡng tóc. (She ferments rice water for three days before using it as a hair treatment.)
Variants and Related Words
- Nước vo gạo: A more specific term for the water from rinsing rice.
- Đừng đổ nước vo gạo đi, nó rất hữu ích. (Don't pour away the rice rinsing water; it is very useful.)
Synonyms
- Starchy rice water: Emphasizes the liquid's content.
- Rice rinse water: Specifically refers to water from washing rice.
Related Idioms
- While there is no direct idiom with "nước gạo," a related concept is "cơm không lành, canh không ngọt" (the rice isn't good, the soup isn't sweet), meaning things are not going well. This highlights the cultural centrality of rice and its byproducts like "nước gạo."