Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Creepy, eerie, causing a slight shiver of fear: Describes a feeling of slight fear, unease, or the spooky atmosphere that causes goosebumps or a chill, often due to something mysterious, supernatural, or unsettling.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Căn nhà hoang trông thật rờn rợn. (The abandoned house looks really creepy.)
  • Nghe câu chuyện ma, tôi cảm thấy rờn rợn sống lưng. (Listening to the ghost story, I felt a creepy shiver down my spine.)
  • Không khí trong rừng lúc hoàng hôn thật rờn rợn. (The atmosphere in the forest at dusk is truly eerie.)

Advanced Usage

• "cảm giác rờn rợn": a creepy/eerie feeling.

  • Cô ấy luôn có cảm giác rờn rợn khi ở một mình trong ngôi nhà đó. (She always has an eerie feeling when alone in that house.)

• "làm cho rờn rợn": to give someone the creeps; to make something creepy.

  • Âm thanh lạ đó làm tôi rờn rợn. (That strange sound gave me the creeps.)

Variants and Related Words

• Rợn (verb/adjective): To shudder/shiver (from fear or cold); scary. This is the root word.

  • Tôi rợn người vì lạnh. (I shivered from the cold.)
  • Câu chuyện thật rợn. (The story is really scary.)

• Rùng rợn (adjective): More intense than "rờn rợn"; horrifying, terrifying, gruesome.

  • Cảnh tượng trong phim thật rùng rợn. (The scene in the movie was truly horrifying.)

Synonyms

• Ghê rợn: creepy, gruesome.
• Kinh dị: horrifying (often used for horror genre).
• Lạnh gáy: spine-chilling.
• Âm u, ma quái: gloomy, ghostly (describing atmosphere).

Related Idioms/Phrases

• "Nổi da gà / Sởn gai ốc": To have goosebumps. This describes the physical reaction to a "rờn rợn" feeling.
  • Nghe xong, ai nấy đều nổi da gà. (After listening, everyone had goosebumps.)

Note: "Rờn rợn" is a reduplicative form (từ láy) of the root word "rợn." Reduplication often softens or emphasizes the meaning. Here, it typically describes a lingering, subtle sense of fear or unease rather than intense terror.

1. xem rợn (láy)