sầy vảy
Definition
- Verb (colloquial, often vulgar):
- To bust one's ass; to work one's tail off; to strive extremely hard: To exert oneself with great, often frantic, effort to accomplish a task or overcome a difficulty. It implies strenuous physical or mental labor.
- To struggle; to flail about: To make desperate, sometimes chaotic efforts in a challenging situation.
Usage Examples
- Verb:
- Phải sầy vảy mới kịp hạn chót. (I had to bust my ass to meet the deadline.)
- Nó sầy vảy mãi mới sửa được cái máy. (He struggled and flailed about for a long time before he could fix the machine.)
- Làm cho xong việc ấy còn sầy vảy. (To finish that work, one still has to strive extremely hard.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is considered vulgar or very informal and is used to emphasize the intensity of the effort, often with a tone of complaint or exhaustion. It is not used in formal writing or speech.
Variants and Related Words
- Vật vã (v): to struggle, to writhe (in pain or effort). Less vulgar but still denotes great difficulty.
- Anh ấy vật vã với đống bài tập. (He struggled with the pile of homework.)
Synonyms
- To exert oneself: to put forth effort.
- To toil: to work hard.
- To strive: to make great efforts.
- To knock oneself out (idiomatic): to work very hard.
Related Idioms
- Đổ mồ hôi sôi nước mắt: to work until one's sweat boils and tears flow (to work incredibly hard).
- Họ làm việc đổ mồ hôi sôi nước mắt. (They worked incredibly hard.)