Definition

1. Noun:
   • Simple, poor food: Refers to basic, inexpensive, and often meager food, typically consisting of vegetables and rice porridge. It symbolizes a life of poverty or frugality.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Gia đình nghèo chỉ ăn rau cháo qua ngày. (The poor family only eats greens and rice soup to get by.)
  • Thời sinh viên, tôi sống với bữa cơm rau cháo. (During my student years, I lived on meals of poor food.)

Advanced Usage

• "cơm áo gạo tiền, rau cháo cũng xong": An idiom meaning "clothes, rice, and money; even poor food is fine." It expresses contentment with the bare necessities of life.
  • Tôi không cần giàu sang, cơm áo gạo tiền, rau cháo cũng xong. (I don't need wealth; just the basics, even poor food, is enough.)

Variants and Related Words

• Cháo: (n) Rice porridge or congee.
• Rau: (n) Vegetables or greens.
• Cơm canh đạm bạc: (idiomatic phrase) Simple, plain rice and soup; a humble meal.

Synonyms

• Đạm bạc: (adj) Simple, plain, frugal (often describing food or lifestyle).
• Thanh đạm: (adj) Light, plain, austere (describing diet).

Related Idioms

• "Ăn rau cháo nằm chỗ ướt": Literally "to eat poor food and sleep in a damp place." It describes an extremely difficult and impoverished living situation.
  • Người lính thời chiến phải chịu cảnh ăn rau cháo nằm chỗ ướt. (Soldiers during the war had to endure eating poor food and sleeping in damp places.)

1. Greens and rice soup; poor food