Definition

1. Noun:
   • Blood debt: A moral or social obligation arising from an act of killing or causing death, which is believed to require repayment, often through vengeance or equivalent loss. It implies a deep, often generational, debt that can only be settled by bloodshed or a life.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Hai gia tộc thù địch vì một món nợ máu từ trăm năm trước. (The two clans are enemies because of a blood debt from a hundred years ago.)
  • Hắn ta mang nợ máu với gia đình tôi. (He carries a blood debt to my family.)

Advanced Usage

• The concept is often used in literature and historical narratives to describe feuds or cycles of revenge where a killing creates a debt that demands another killing in return.
  • Câu chuyện xoay quanh việc trả món nợ máu giữa các thế hệ. (The story revolves around repaying the blood debt between generations.)

Variants and Related Words

• Nợ nần (n): Debts or obligations in a general, often financial, sense.

  • Anh ấy đang chìm trong nợ nần. (He is drowning in debt.)

• Máu (n): Blood. When used in compounds, it often relates to lineage, violence, or deep-seated traits.

  • Máu mặt: prestige, social standing.

Synonyms

• Blood feud: A prolonged conflict between families or clans, involving revenge killings.
• Vendetta: A bitter, long-standing rivalry marked by a series of retaliatory acts.

Related Idioms

• Trả nợ máu: To repay a blood debt; to exact vengeance for a killing.
  • Họ tin rằng phải trả nợ máu cho người đã khuất. (They believe they must repay the blood debt to the deceased.)

1. Blood debt