Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Destitute and hungry: Being in a state of severe poverty where one lacks both money and food, experiencing hunger due to extreme need.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau trận lũ, nhiều gia đình rơi vào cảnh túng đói. (After the flood, many families fell into a state of destitution and hunger.)
  • Chương trình từ thiện này giúp đỡ những người túng đói. (This charity program helps those who are destitute and hungry.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used in formal or literary contexts to describe a severe and compounded state of deprivation, emphasizing both financial poverty and the physical suffering of hunger.

Variants and Related Words

• Túng thiếu (adj): to be in need, to be short of money or necessities. This word focuses more on general shortage, not necessarily implying hunger.

  • Họ túng thiếu sau khi mất việc. (They were in need after losing their jobs.)

• Đói nghèo (adj): poor and hungry; impoverished. This is a very common synonym.

  • Cuộc chiến chống lại đói nghèo. (The fight against poverty and hunger.)

Synonyms

• Impoverished: reduced to poverty.
• Destitute: lacking the means of subsistence; utterly impoverished.
• Penniless and starving: having no money and suffering from hunger.

Related Idioms

• Túng quẫn: to be in dire straits or in a desperate situation, often financially.

  • Công ty phá sản khiến ông ấy túng quẫn. (The company's bankruptcy left him in dire straits.)

• Đói rách: (lit. hungry and torn) to be extremely poor, to the point of having tattered clothes and an empty stomach.

  • Họ sống trong cảnh đói rách nhiều năm. (They lived in extreme poverty for many years.)