Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Lost (to time/obliterated): Refers to a skill, knowledge, tradition, or artifact that has not been passed down and has been lost to subsequent generations. It implies a permanent break in the chain of transmission.
   • Extinct (in terms of knowledge/craft): Describes something, especially a technique or practice, that is no longer known or practiced because the lineage of teaching was interrupted.

2. Verb (intransitive):

   • To become lost (to posterity): The process or state of a piece of knowledge or a tradition failing to be handed down and thus disappearing.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Nghề đan lát cổ truyền ấy gần như đã thất truyền. (That traditional weaving craft has almost been lost.)
  • Đó là một bài thuốc nam thất truyền. (That is a lost Southern herbal remedy.)
• Verb:
  • Tiếc là kỹ thuật đó đã thất truyền từ lâu. (Unfortunately, that technique became lost long ago.)

Advanced Usage

• Often used in formal, academic, or cultural discussions to lament the disappearance of intangible cultural heritage. It carries a tone of regret and irreplaceable loss.
• Commonly collocates with words like: (craft), (formula), (secret technique), (unique skill), (document/text).

Variants and Related Words

• Sự thất truyền (n): The loss, the extinction (of knowledge). Refers to the event or state of being lost.
  • Sự thất truyền của những nghề thủ công là một mất mát văn hóa. (The loss of handicrafts is a cultural deprivation.)

Synonyms

• Lost: No longer known or possessed.
• Extinct: No longer existing or practiced.
• Forgotten: No longer remembered (though "thất truyền" is stronger, implying a failed transmission).

Antonyms

• Được lưu truyền / Truyền lại (v): To be passed down / To be handed down.
• Tồn tại (v): To survive, to exist.

Related Concepts

• Di sản phi vật thể: Intangible cultural heritage (which is often at risk of ).
• Bảo tồn: Preservation (the action to prevent something from becoming ).

adj

1. lost