Definition

1. Adjective:
   • (Of baby teeth) Decayed, broken off, or missing before the permanent teeth grow in: Describes the condition of a child's primary teeth that have been damaged by decay or broken, leaving a gap before the adult tooth emerges.
   • (Of teeth) Having a visible gap or being worn down: Can describe teeth, especially front incisors, that are noticeably chipped, missing, or eroded.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Em bé đó có hàm răng sún. (That baby has decayed/missing baby teeth.)
  • Răng cửa của nó bị sún mất một mảng. (Its front tooth is chipped/broken off.)
  • Trẻ con hay bị sún răng nếu ăn nhiều đồ ngọt. (Children often get decayed teeth if they eat a lot of sweets.)

Advanced Usage

• "sún răng": The most common collocation, meaning "to have decayed/missing baby teeth" or describing the state of such teeth.
  • Tình trạng sún răng sớm ở trẻ cần được phòng ngừa. (Early childhood tooth decay needs to be prevented.)
• Used to describe a characteristic, often in a somewhat endearing or descriptive way about a child's appearance.
  • Cậu bé cười để lộ hàm răng sún đáng yêu. (The boy smiled, revealing his cute, gappy teeth.)

Variants and Related Words

• Sún răng (Compound Noun/Adjectival Phrase): The state of having decayed or missing baby teeth.
  • Bệnh sún răng (tooth decay in children)
• Sứt (Verb/Adjective): To chip, to notch. While sứt often refers to chipping on objects or lips, sún is specific to (baby) teeth.
  • Sứt mẻ (chipped and damaged)

Synonyms

• Hỏng (răng) (Adjective): Bad, rotten (teeth). More general.
• Mục (răng) (Adjective): Rotten, decayed (teeth). Emphasizes decay.
• Gãy (răng) (Verb/Adjective): Broken (tooth). Focuses on the breakage itself.

Notes on Meaning

• The word sún is almost exclusively used in the context of children's primary (baby/milk) teeth. It is not typically used for permanent adult teeth; terms like (cavities/tooth decay) or (broken tooth) are used instead.
• It implies a visible defect—a gap, a broken-off piece, or noticeable decay—not just invisible cavities.
• The reference to (to feed by mouth, as a bird to its chicks) in older dictionaries is now very rare and archaic. The primary modern meaning relates to teeth.

adjective

1. (răng) decayed