tai vạ
Definition
- Noun:
- Calamity; disaster: A severe, often sudden event causing great damage, distress, or loss.
- Misfortune; affliction: A state of serious and undeserved bad luck or suffering that befalls someone.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Trận động đất là một tai vạ khủng khiếp. (The earthquake was a terrible calamity.)
- Gia đình họ gặp phải tai vạ bất ngờ. (Their family encountered an unexpected misfortune.)
- Tai vạ ập đến khiến mọi người bàng hoàng. (The disaster struck, leaving everyone stunned.)
Advanced Usage
- The term "tai vạ" often implies a sense of fate or an unavoidable blow, carrying a connotation of severity beyond ordinary trouble. It is frequently used in formal or literary contexts to describe profound tragedies.
Variants and Related Words
Tai ương (n): scourge, catastrophe. A synonym often used interchangeably with tai vạ, sometimes with an even stronger sense of a widespread plague or curse.
- Chiến tranh là một tai ương của nhân loại. (War is a scourge of humanity.)
Hoạ (n): disaster, catastrophe. Can be used similarly, but tai vạ often emphasizes the aspect of personal suffering or affliction.
- Tai nạn đó là một hoạ lớn. (That accident was a major disaster.)
Synonyms
- Calamity: An event causing great and often sudden damage or distress.
- Disaster: A sudden accident or natural catastrophe causing great damage.
- Misfortune: Bad luck; an unfortunate condition or event.
- Affliction: Something that causes pain or suffering.
Related Idioms
Tai bay vạ gió: (Literally: misfortune flies, disaster blows) Meaning: troubles that come unexpectedly and without reason; to be hit by random, undeserved misfortune.
- Đang yên đang lành, tai bay vạ gió. (Everything was fine, then trouble came out of nowhere.)
Vạ từ đâu đến: (Literally: where did the misfortune come from?) Meaning: used to express bewilderment at the source of sudden trouble.
- Tôi không hiểu vạ từ đâu đến. (I don't understand where this misfortune came from.)