Definition

1. Verb phrase:
   • To have saliva dripping from one's mouth: Describes the action of saliva unintentionally flowing out of the mouth, often associated with babies, sleeping individuals, or when seeing very appetizing food.
   • To drool, to slobber: The primary meaning is the involuntary act of saliva escaping the mouth.

Usage Examples

• Verb phrase:
  • Em bé đang ngủ và rớt dãi. (The baby is sleeping and drooling.)
  • Nhìn món ăn ngon, anh ấy suýt rớt dãi. (Looking at the delicious food, he almost drooled.)
  • Cô lấy khăn lau rớt dãi cho con. (She used a cloth to wipe the drool from her child.)

Advanced Usage

• "rớt dãi vì thèm thuồng": to drool out of desire/craving.
  • Cậu bé rớt dãi vì thèm thuồng khi nhìn thấy chiếc bánh. (The boy drooled with craving when he saw the cake.)
• Used figuratively to express intense desire or envy.
  • Nghe kể về chuyến du lịch, tôi muốn rớt dãi. (Listening to the travel story, I was drooling with envy/desire.)

Variants and Related Words

• Chảy dãi (verb phrase): A more common synonym meaning "to drool."
  • Con chó chảy dãi khi ngửi thấy mùi thịt. (The dog drooled when it smelled the meat.)
• Dãi (noun): Saliva, spittle.
  • Lau dãi cho bé. (Wipe the baby's saliva.)
• Nước dãi (noun): Saliva (more formal than "dãi").
  • Nuốt nước dãi. (To swallow one's saliva.)

Synonyms

• Chảy nước miếng: To have saliva/mouth water flowing.
• Chảy nước bọt: To have spit/saliva flowing. (Note: "nước bọt" is slightly more clinical than "nước dãi" or "dãi").

Related Idioms

• "Thèm rớt dãi" / "Thèm chảy dãi": To crave something so much that one drools; to desire intensely.
  • Tôi thèm rớt dãi món bánh mì thịt nướng đó. (I'm drooling for that grilled pork sandwich.)
• While not a phrasal verb, the phrase is often used with "vì" (because of) to indicate the cause of the drooling.
  • Rớt dãi vì ngon. (To drool because [the food] is delicious.)

1. Dripping saliva
   • Lấy khăn tay lau rớt dãi cho em bé
     To wipe the baby's dripping saliva with a handkerchief