Definition

1. Noun:

   • Card: A small, flat, usually rectangular piece of stiff paper or cardboard, often used for social purposes. This includes visiting cards, invitation cards, greeting cards, and announcement cards.
   • Concubine: (Historical/archaic) A woman who lives with a man and has a recognized social status lower than that of a wife.

2. Verb:

   • To gild / To plate: To cover an object with a thin layer of gold, silver, or another metal.
   • To lose consciousness / To fall into a stupor: To become unconscious or fall into a deep, lethargic sleep, often due to extreme fatigue or illness.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Card):
  • Anh ấy để lại thiếp danh của mình trên bàn. (He left his visiting card on the table.)
  • Chúng tôi vừa nhận được thiếp mời đám cưới. (We just received a wedding invitation card.)
• Noun (Concubine):
  • Trong xã hội phong kiến, một người đàn ông có thể có một vợ và nhiều thiếp. (In feudal society, a man could have one wife and several concubines.)
• Verb (To gild):
  • Người thợ thiếp vàng lên khung ảnh. (The artisan gilds the picture frame.)
• Verb (To lose consciousness):
  • Cô ấy mệt quá nên thiếp đi trên ghế. (She was so tired she lost consciousness/fell into a stupor in the chair.)

Advanced Usage

• Historical First-Person Pronoun: In classical literature or historical contexts, "thiếp" was used by a woman to humbly refer to herself ("I", "me") when addressing a man or her husband.
  • Thiếp xin chàng hãy thứ lỗi. (I [your humble wife] beg for your forgiveness, my lord.)

Variants and Related Words

• Thiếp mời (n): Invitation card.
• Thiếp danh / Danh thiếp (n): Visiting card, business card.
• Thiếp báo tin (n): Announcement card (e.g., for a birth or funeral).
• Thiếp vàng (v): To gild.
• Thiếp bạc (v): To silver, to plate with silver.

Synonyms

• Card: visiting card, invitation, note.
• Concubine: secondary wife (historical).
• To gild: to coat with gold, to adorn.
• To lose consciousness: to faint, to black out, to swoon (literary).

Related Idioms

• Năm thê bảy thiếp: (Idiom, historical) Literally "five wives, seven concubines"; used to describe a man with many wives and concubines, implying a polygamous household.

noun

1. card (visiting, wedding, invitation,.) concubine

verb

1. to gild to lose consciousness