oi bức
Adjective: - Muggy, sultry, stuffy: Describes hot and humid weather conditions that are uncomfortable, oppressive, and make it difficult to breathe, often with little or no wind.
- Adjective:
- Thời tiết hôm nay thật oi bức. (The weather today is really muggy.)
- Căn phòng nhỏ trở nên oi bức vì không có cửa sổ. (The small room became stuffy because it had no windows.)
- Mùa hè ở Hà Nội thường rất oi bức. (Summers in Hanoi are often very sultry.)
"trời oi bức như chảo lửa": The weather is as sultry as a frying pan/fire pan (idiomatic for extremely hot and oppressive).
- Giữa trưa, trời oi bức như chảo lửa. (At noon, the weather is as sultry as a fire pan.)
"cơn oi bức": A spell/period of muggy weather.
- Cơn oi bức kéo dài cả tuần khiến ai cũng mệt mỏi. (The spell of muggy weather lasting the whole week made everyone tired.)
Oi (adj): Often used interchangeably with "oi bức," meaning hot and stifling. It can be slightly less intense.
- Trời oi quá! (It's so stifling hot!)
Ngột ngạt (adj): Stifling, suffocating; can describe air quality (lack of oxygen) or an oppressive atmosphere, not solely due to heat.
- Bầu không khí trong phòng họp thật ngột ngạt. (The atmosphere in the meeting room was really stifling.)
Nóng bức (adj): Hot (causing discomfort from high temperature), but not necessarily implying the high humidity of "oi bức."
- Ngày nóng bức. (A hot day.)
- Nóng nực: Hot and uncomfortable.
- Ngột ngạt: Stifling, suffocating.
- Bí bách: Stuffy, close (often for enclosed spaces).
Oi như đổ lửa: As sultry as pouring fire (idiom for extremely hot and humid weather).
- Tháng sáu, trời oi như đổ lửa. (In June, the weather is as sultry as pouring fire.)
Trời oi, gà phải cáy: When it's sultry, even the chickens must pant (a folk saying describing very oppressive heat).
- Đúng là "trời oi, gà phải cáy". (It's truly a case of "when it's sultry, even the chickens must pant.")