tai tái

Mặt anh ấy trở nên tai tái khi nghe tin.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Pale, pallid, ashen: Describes a person's complexion that has turned unnaturally pale, often due to shock, fear, illness, or extreme cold. It implies a loss of healthy color.
   • Very lightly cooked, rare: Describes meat, especially beef, that is cooked only on the outside while the inside remains mostly red and raw.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (Pale):
  • Nghe tin dữ, mặt cô ấy tái tai. (Hearing the bad news, her face turned ashen.)
  • Đứa trẻ sốt cao, người tai tái. (The child had a high fever and looked pallid.)
• Adjective (Rare):
  • Anh ấy thích ăn bít tết chín tai tái. (He likes to eat steak cooked rare.)
  • Thịt luộc còn tai tái, chưa ăn được. (The boiled meat is still too rare to eat.)

Advanced Usage

• The word is often used in its reduplicated form "tai tái" for emphasis. The single form "tái" carries the same meanings.
• When describing complexion, "tai tái" often conveys a more severe or sickly paleness than just "tái" or "xanh xao" (pale).

Variants and Related Words

• Tái (adj): The root word, meaning pale or rare.
  • Mặt tái mét vì sợ hãi. (His face was deathly pale from fear.)
• Tái nhợt (adj): Wan, pallid (specifically for complexion).

Synonyms

• Pale: Lacking color in the face.
• Ashen: Extremely pale, like ash.
• Pallid: Unnaturally or unhealthily pale.
• Rare: (For meat) Lightly cooked.

Related Idioms

• Mặt tái mét / Mặt tai tái: An idiom describing a face that has become extremely pale.
  • Thấy cảnh đó, nó đứng hình, mặt tái mét. (Seeing that scene, he froze, his face deathly pale.)