Definition

Noun: - Ordinary person; vulgar person: A term, often used in classical or philosophical contexts, to refer to a common person who is engrossed in worldly, materialistic desires and lacks spiritual refinement or higher understanding. It implies a person of coarse or vulgar temperament. - Mundane being: In Buddhist and philosophical contexts, it denotes an unenlightened being bound by earthly attachments and ignorance, in contrast to a sage or enlightened one.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Trong đạo Phật, phàm phu còn chìm đắm trong vòng luân hồi. (In Buddhism, the ordinary person is still immersed in the cycle of samsara.)
  • Anh ta cư xử như một kẻ phàm phu, chỉ nghĩ đến tiền bạc. (He behaves like a vulgar person, thinking only of money.)
  • Bậc giác ngộ thương xót chúng sinh phàm phu. (The enlightened one has compassion for mundane beings.)

Advanced Usage

• "phàm phu tục tử": A fixed four-character idiom meaning "vulgar and commonplace people"; philistines. It emphasizes a state of being crude, ordinary, and obsessed with mundane affairs.
  • Ông ta khinh thường những kẻ phàm phu tục tử. (He looks down upon those vulgar and commonplace people.)

Variants and Related Words

• Phàm nhân (n): Another term for a common mortal or ordinary person.

  • Là phàm nhân, ai cũng có lúc sai lầm. (As ordinary mortals, everyone makes mistakes sometimes.)

• Phàm tục (adj): Mundane; worldly; vulgar.

  • Anh ta không quan tâm đến những chuyện phàm tục. (He is not concerned with mundane matters.)

Synonyms

• Commoner: A person without noble rank or status.
• Philistine: A person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts.
• Mortal: A human being subject to death, especially in contrast to a divine being.
• Plebeian: A common person, often with a connotation of being coarse.

Related Idioms

• Phàm phu tục tử: As above, a set idiom for vulgar, uncultured people preoccupied with base material concerns.
  • Tư tưởng của hắn thật là phàm phu tục tử. (His thinking is truly that of a vulgar philistine.)

noun

1. vulgar person, ordinary nan