Definition

1. Noun:

   • Sour soup: A traditional Vietnamese soup characterized by a tangy, sour broth, typically made with seafood like crab or fish, and often containing tomatoes.
   • Crab soup / Crab broth: Specifically refers to "riêu cua," a classic dish of a sour soup made from pounded crab meat and shells.

2. Noun (figurative):

   • Gaudy/superficial appearance: Used in the idiom "màu mỡ riêu cua" to describe something that looks flashy, showy, or attractive on the surface but lacks substance or quality underneath.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • Bà ngoại nấu nồi riêu cua rất ngon. (Grandmother cooks a very delicious pot of sour crab soup.)
  • Món riêu cá này có vị chua nhẹ. (This sour fish soup has a mild sour taste.)

• Noun (figurative):

  • Cửa hàng đó trông màu mỡ riêu cua, nhưng đồ dùng rất kém chất lượng. (That store looks gaudy, but the goods are of very poor quality.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is most commonly used in the compound form "riêu cua". While "riêu" alone can mean a type of sour soup, it is often understood contextually to refer to the crab-based version.

Variants and Related Words

• Riêu cua (n): Sour crab soup. The most common and iconic dish associated with the word "riêu."
• Riêu cá (n): Sour fish soup.

Synonyms

• Sour broth: Describes the tangy soup base.
• Crab bisque: A somewhat analogous, though not identical, Western concept for a rich crab soup.

Related Idioms

• Màu mỡ riêu cua (idiom): Gaudy/superficial appearance; literally "the rich color of crab soup." It criticizes something for being superficially attractive or flashy without real value.
  • Lời quảng cáo chỉ là màu mỡ riêu cua. (The advertisement is just a gaudy facade.)

1. Sour soup
   • Riêu cua
     Sour crab soup
   • Màu mỡ riêu cua
     Gaudy appearance