Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Refined-mannered; elegant; cultured: Describes a person who exhibits sophisticated, graceful, and polite behavior, often associated with traditional ideals of gentility and good taste. This usage is somewhat literary or dated.
   • Comfortably off; well-to-do; affluent: Describes a state of life or a person who is financially comfortable, having more than the basic necessities, leading a life of ease and material sufficiency.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (refined-mannered):
  • Anh ấy là một con người phong lưu. (He is a refined-mannered person.)
• Adjective (comfortably off):
  • Bây giờ đời sống đã phong lưu. (Life is now comfortably off.)
  • Gia đình họ sống một cuộc sống phong lưu. (Their family leads a well-to-do life.)

Advanced Usage

• The term can carry a slightly old-fashioned or poetic nuance, often evoking a classical ideal of cultured prosperity.
• In older literary contexts, "chốn phong lưu" referred to a place of pleasure or entertainment, such as a singing-girl house or a district known for leisure and romantic pursuits.
  • Bình khang là chốn phong lưu. (Binh Khang is a place of pleasure.)

Variants and Related Words

• Phong lưu học sĩ (n, literary): A cultured scholar; a refined and learned gentleman.

Synonyms

• Refined-mannered: Cultured, elegant, genteel, urbane.
• Comfortably off: Affluent, well-off, prosperous, well-to-do.

Related Idioms

• Phong lưu rồi lại phong lưu: An expression emphasizing a state of repeated or continuous elegance and comfort.

1. (từ cũ) Refined-mannered
   • Con người phong lưu
     A refined-mannered person
2. Comfortably off
   • Bây giờ đời sống đã phong lưu
     To be now comfortably off