tha hương

Người lính già ngồi nhớ về quê hương khi tha hương nơi đất khách.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A foreign land; a strange country: Refers to a place that is not one's homeland, often evoking a sense of being far from home, alienated, or in exile.
   • The state of being away from one's native place: Describes the condition or experience of living in a distant land, typically with connotations of nostalgia, hardship, or displacement.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Ông ấy đã sống cả đời trong cảnh tha hương. (He has lived his whole life in a foreign land.)
  • Nỗi nhớ nhà da diết khi phải sống tha hương. (The homesickness is acute when one has to live away from home.)
  • Bài thơ nói về nỗi buồn của kẻ tha hương. (The poem speaks of the sorrow of an exile.)

Advanced Usage

• The term "tha hương" is deeply poetic and literary. It is rarely used in casual, everyday conversation. It often carries a melancholic or sentimental weight, describing not just a physical location but an emotional state of estrangement.
• It can function as an adverbial noun in phrases like (to live in exile/away from home).

Variants and Related Words

• Lưu lạc tha hương (phrase): to wander and live in a foreign land; to be displaced and homeless.

  • Câu chuyện về những người lưu lạc tha hương. (The story of those who wander in exile.)

• Kẻ tha hương (noun phrase): an exile; a person living away from their homeland.

  • Anh ấy là một kẻ tha hương đầy tâm sự. (He is a thoughtful exile.)

Synonyms

• Exile: The state of being barred from one's native country.
• Foreign land: A country that is not one's own.
• Diaspora: The dispersion of any people from their original homeland (broader context).
• Alien soil: A poetic synonym for a foreign land.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Tha hương cầu thực: To live away from home to make a living. This phrase emphasizes the economic necessity of leaving one's homeland.

  • Cha ông ta ngày xưa thường phải tha hương cầu thực. (Our ancestors often had to leave home to seek a livelihood.)

• Sống trong cảnh tha hương: To live in the state of being an exile.

  • Hàng triệu người đang sống trong cảnh tha hương vì chiến tranh. (Millions are living in exile because of war.)