Definition

Noun: - News or traces (about someone): Refers to information, signs, or indications that reveal the presence, whereabouts, or current status of a person or thing that is being sought or awaited. It is most commonly used in negative contexts to indicate a complete absence of such news or traces.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Đã lâu rồi tôi không thấy tăm hơi của anh ấy. (I haven't seen any trace of him for a long time.)
  • Hẹn nhau từ sáng, chờ mãi chẳng thấy tăm hơi đâu. (We had an appointment since morning, but I waited forever without seeing any sign of them.)
  • Cậu ấy biến mất bặt tăm hơi. (He disappeared without a trace.)

Advanced Usage

• The phrase is almost always used with a negative connotation or within a negative structure (e.g., , , ).
• It implies a search or an expectation for contact or appearance that remains unfulfilled.

Variants and Related Words

• Bặt tăm hơi (idiomatic phrase): to vanish without a trace, to disappear completely.
  • Sau trận lũ, nhiều ngôi làng bị bặt tăm hơi. (After the flood, many villages vanished without a trace.)

Synonyms

• Trace: a sign that someone or something has been present.
• News: new information about a specific person or situation.
• Sign: an indication of something.

Related Idioms

• Chẳng thấy tăm hơi: to not see hide nor hair (of someone); to have no news or sign at all.

  • Gọi điện cả tuần nay nhưng chẳng thấy tăm hơi gì. (I've been calling for a week but haven't heard a peep.)

• Bặt tăm bặt hơi: a more emphatic variant meaning to disappear completely, leaving no clue behind.

  • Đứa bé lạc trong chợ, bặt tăm bặt hơi. (The child got lost in the market and disappeared without a trace.)

noun

1. news (about someone)