Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Spotless, immaculate: Describes something that is perfectly clean, pure, and without any stain or blemish. It often refers to a very bright, pure white color.
   • Pure white: Specifically used to describe a bright, unblemished, and often shiny white color.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Mái tóc bà cụ bạc phau. (The old woman's hair is silvery white.)
  • Cánh cò trắng phau trên cánh đồng. (The stork's wings are spotlessly white in the field.)
  • Sau khi giặt, chiếc áo sơ mi trắng phau. (After washing, the white shirt is immaculately white.)

Advanced Usage

• "phau phau" (reduplicative form, intensifying meaning): Absolutely spotless, perfectly white. This form emphasizes the extreme degree of whiteness and purity.
  • Bức tường mới quét vôi trắng phau phau. (The newly lime-washed wall is dazzlingly white.)

Variants and Related Words

• Trắng phau (compound adjective): Spotlessly white. This is the most common collocation where "phau" is used.
  • Tuyết rơi phủ trắng phau cả ngọn núi. (The snow fell, covering the entire mountain peak in spotless white.)

Synonyms

• Tinh khiết: Pure.
• Tinh trắng: Pure white.
• Sạch bong: Perfectly clean (more general, not specific to color).

Notes on Usage

• The word "phau" is almost exclusively used in its reduplicative form "phau phau" or, more commonly, in the fixed phrase "trắng phau". It is rarely used alone as an independent adjective in modern Vietnamese.
• It primarily describes visual purity and whiteness, often with a poetic or descriptive nuance, and is commonly used in literature and everyday descriptions.

1. Spotless, immaculate
   • Trắng phau
     Spotlessly white
   • Phau phau (láy, ý tăng)
     Absolutely spotless