Definition

1. Noun:
   • A drifting, floating cloud: Refers literally to a cloud that floats and drifts in the sky.
   • (Figurative) A transient, fleeting, or ephemeral thing: Used metaphorically to describe something insubstantial, temporary, or illusory, such as wealth, fame, or worldly pleasures that are here today and gone tomorrow.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Literal):
  • Nhìn những đám phù vân trên trời cao. (Look at the drifting clouds in the high sky.)
• Noun (Figurative):
  • Của cải, danh vọng ấy chỉ là phù vân. (That wealth and fame are merely transient.)
  • Đừng theo đuổi những thứ phù vân. (Do not pursue fleeting things.)

Advanced Usage

• "Cửa phù vân": A classical compound phrase meaning "transient/illusory wealth" or "fleeting riches."
  • Anh ta đã đánh mất tất cả cửa phù vân trong một trận cờ bạc. (He lost all his transient wealth in a gambling game.)

Variants and Related Words

• Phù du (n): Mayfly; (fig.) something extremely short-lived, ephemeral. While similar, "phù du" often emphasizes an even briefer, more fragile existence than "phù vân."
  • Kiếp người như bóng phù du. (Human life is like the shadow of a mayfly.)
• Phù phiếm (adj): Frivolous, vain, empty (often describing speech or pursuits).
  • Những cuộc trò chuyện phù phiếm. (Frivolous conversations.)

Synonyms

• Ảo ảnh (n): Illusion, mirage.
• Nhất thời (adj): Temporary, short-term.
• Chóng tàn (adj): Quickly fading, perishable.

Related Idioms

• "Phù vân mộng ảo": Describes something as illusory and dreamlike, completely unreal and fleeting.
  • Những hứa hẹn ấy rốt cuộc chỉ là phù vân mộng ảo. (Those promises ultimately turned out to be illusory and dreamlike.)

1. Drifting cloud.
2. (nghĩa bóng) Transient thing
   • Cửa phù vân
     Transient wealth