Definition

1. Noun:

   • Corpse, dead body: The physical remains of a deceased person.
   • Body (in a contemptuous or dismissive sense): Can refer to a person's body, often implying worthlessness or disregard.

2. Verb (colloquial):

   • To leave alone, to let be (often in the phrase "kệ thây" or "thì thây"): To abandon someone to their fate or to stop caring about what happens to them.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • Chiến trường đầy thây người. (The battlefield was full of corpses.)
  • Nó chỉ là một cái thây vô dụng. (He's just a useless body.)

• Verb (in fixed phrases):

  • Nó không nghe lời khuyên thì thây nó. (If he doesn't listen to the advice, then let him be / to hell with him.)
  • Tôi đã bảo nó không được đi. Kệ thây nó! (I told him not to go. Just leave him be! / Forget about him!)

Advanced Usage

• "phơi thây": To leave a corpse exposed; often used figuratively to describe a humiliating defeat or exposure.

  • Kẻ phản bội bị phơi thây trước công chúng. (The traitor was exposed/cast out before the public.)

• "vùi thây": To bury a corpse; can be used literally or figuratively (e.g., to defeat thoroughly).

  • Quân ta đã vùi thây quân địch tại trận địa đó. (Our troops buried the enemy forces at that battlefield.)

Variants and Related Words

• Tử thi (n): A more formal or literary term for "corpse."
• Xác chết (n): A common, neutral term for "dead body."
• Thây ma (n): This is a compound word meaning "zombie" or "walking corpse." (Note: This is listed separately as it is a compound, not the target word itself).

Synonyms

• Xác (n): Body; can also mean corpse in context.
• Cadaver (n): A formal, often medical, term for a corpse (from the reference French "cadavre").

Related Phrases / Idioms

• "Thì thây" / "Kệ thây": Fixed phrases used as verbs. They mean "to hell with [someone/something]" or "to leave [someone] to their own devices." They express indifference or abandonment.
  • Nó muốn tự làm thì kệ thây nó. (If he wants to do it himself, then let him be.)
• "Thây kệ": A less common variant of "kệ thây" with the same meaning.
• "Chết phơi thây": To die and have one's corpse left unburied/exposed; can imply a dishonorable death.

noun

1. corpse, body