Definition

1. Noun:

   • Beehive / Wasp Nest: The physical, often hexagonal-celled structure built by bees or wasps to house their colony, raise their young, and store honey and pollen.
   • Honeycomb: Refers specifically to the internal, geometric wax structure of cells within a beehive. This meaning is often used to describe objects with a similar pattern.

2. Adjective (Descriptive):

   • Honeycombed / Cellular: Describes a surface, texture, or structure that has a pattern of many small, regular, adjacent holes or cells, resembling the interior of a beehive.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • Người nuôi ong đang kiểm tra tổ ong. (The beekeeper is inspecting the beehive.)
  • Một tổ ong vò vẽ trên mái nhà. (A wasp nest is on the roof.)
  • Mật ong nguyên chất còn nguyên trong tổ ong. (Pure honey is still in the honeycomb.)

• Adjective:

  • Anh ấy dùng khăn mặt tổ ong. (He uses a honeycombed face towel.)
  • Cấu trúc tổ ong giúp vật liệu nhẹ và bền. (The honeycomb structure makes the material light and durable.)

Advanced Usage

• "tổ ong mặt": A common term for a skin condition (like severe acne or folliculitis) causing the skin to have a pitted, cellular appearance, metaphorically similar to a honeycomb.
  • Sau khi bị bệnh, da anh ấy trở nên tổ ong mặt. (After the illness, his skin became pitted like a honeycomb.)

Variants and Related Words

• Ong (n): Bee or wasp.
  • Ong mật làm mật. (Honey bees make honey.)
• Sáp ong (n): Beeswax.
  • Sáp ong dùng để làm nến. (Beeswax is used to make candles.)

Synonyms

• Beehive: A man-made or natural structure housing a bee colony.
• Honeycomb: The wax structure of hexagonal cells built by honey bees.
• Wasp nest: The structure built by wasps.
• Cellular: Having a structure consisting of small compartments.

Related Idioms

• (Bị) ong chích / (Bị) ong đốt: To be stung by a bee/wasp. This is related to the danger associated with disturbing a .
  • Đừng động vào tổ ong kẻo bị ong đốt. (Don't touch the beehive or you'll get stung.)