Definition

1. Intransitive Verb:
   • To fail (of a crop), to have a poor harvest: Refers specifically to agricultural crops yielding poorly or failing completely, resulting in a significant loss of produce.
   • To suffer losses, to be diminished: Can extend metaphorically to describe suffering losses or setbacks in a broader, often material or resource-based, context.

Usage Examples

• Intransitive Verb:
  • Năm nay hạn hán nên mùa màng thất bát. (This year, there's a drought so the harvest has failed.)
  • Công ty thất bát sau vụ đầu tư thua lỗ. (The company suffered losses after the failed investment venture.)
  • Vụ lúa chiêm bị sâu bệnh, thất bát hoàn toàn. (The summer rice crop was infested with pests, resulting in a complete crop failure.)

Advanced Usage

• "thất bát mùa màng": crop failure.
  • Thiên tai thường xuyên dẫn đến thất bát mùa màng. (Frequent natural disasters lead to crop failures.)
• Used to describe a state of loss or deficiency, often in a poetic or formal context regarding resources or fortune.
  • Làm ăn thất bát. (To suffer business losses.)

Variants and Related Words

• Thất bát (Noun): While primarily a verb, it can function nominally in some contexts to mean "a failure/crop failure" or "a state of loss."
  • Nỗi lo thất bát. (The worry of crop failure.)
• Thất bát (Adjective): Rarely used as an adjective describing something as "failed" or "resulting in loss."
  • Một vụ mùa thất bát. (A failed crop season.)
• Thất thu (verb): to suffer a loss of revenue/income. (A related but distinct term focusing on financial income).
• Mất mùa (verb): to have a crop failure. (A very close synonym, more common in everyday speech).

Synonyms

• Mất mùa: to have a crop failure.
• Thua lỗ: to incur a loss (primarily financial/business).
• Hao hụt: to be depleted, to diminish (in quantity).

Related Idioms

• Được mùa chớ phụ ngô khoai, Đến khi thất bát lấy ai bạn cùng: (When the harvest is good, don't neglect the corn and potatoes; when the crop fails, who will be there to keep you company?) – A proverb warning not to be arrogant in good times and to prepare for bad times.
• Thất bát như chạch: (To fail like a loach) – An idiom emphasizing a complete and total failure.

verb

1. to fail, to lose