Definition

1. Noun:
   • The late night / the small hours: The period of time very late at night, just before dawn, when the night is nearly over.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Tiếng gà gáy vang lên trong buổi tàn canh. (The rooster's crow echoed in the late night.)
  • Công việc kéo dài đến tận tàn canh. (The work lasted until the small hours.)

Advanced Usage

• This is a literary and somewhat poetic term, often used in written Vietnamese (e.g., literature, poetry, songs) to evoke a quiet, deep, or melancholic atmosphere of the ending night.

Variants and Related Words

• Nửa đêm: midnight.
• Rạng sáng / Hừng đông: dawn, daybreak.
• Đêm khuya: late at night.

Synonyms

• The dead of night: the middle of the night when it is very quiet and dark.
• The small hours: the early hours of the morning, just after midnight.
• The wee hours: (informal) the very early morning hours.

Related Idioms

• Thức đến tàn canh: to stay up until the small hours.
  • Ông ấy thức đến tàn canh để đọc sách. (He stayed up until the small hours to read.)