Definition

Adjective: - Sickly; chronically ill; frail: Describes a person, especially a child, who is frequently or constantly unwell, weak, and in poor health, often resulting in a thin, wasted, or stunted appearance.

Usage Examples

• (The child is sickly.)
• (The boy is constantly/chronically ill.)

Advanced Usage

• The term often carries a connotation of pity and describes a persistent state of poor health rather than a single illness. It is typically used for living beings, not objects or abstract concepts.

Variants and Related Words

• Ốm quặt quẹo (adj phrase): chronically sick; constantly ailing. This is a common reinforcing collocation.
  • Nó ốm quặt quẹo từ nhỏ. (He has been chronically sick since childhood.)

Synonyms

• Sickly: in poor health, frail.
• Frail: weak and delicate.
• Ailing: in poor health.
• Unhealthy: not in good health.

Related Idioms

• While "quặt quẹo" itself is not typically part of a wider idiom, its meaning is closely related to the concept of persistent ill-health as described in the phrase "ốm đau quặt quẹo" (suffering from constant sickness).

adj

1. sickly
   • đứa bé quặt quẹo
     sickly child