thiên vàn
Definition
- Interjection:
- A thousand and ten thousand pleas: An archaic and extremely earnest expression of supplication or entreaty, used to implore someone with utmost sincerity and desperation. It conveys the meaning of "I beg of you a thousand, ten thousand times" or "I most humbly and earnestly beseech you."
Usage Examples
- Interjection:
- Thiên vạn, xin ngài hãy thương xót! (A thousand and ten thousand pleas, please have mercy, sir!)
- Thiên vạn xin đại nhân xét lại cho. (I most humbly beseech you, Your Excellency, to reconsider my case.)
Advanced Usage
- This term is found almost exclusively in classical Vietnamese literature, historical dramas, or formal, poetic petitions. It is not used in modern everyday conversation.
- It functions as a standalone, emphatic preface to a request, amplifying the depth of the speaker's desperation and respect.
Variants and Related Words
- Thiên vạn: The more standard orthographic form of the same term. "Thiên vàn" is a phonetic variant.
- Khẩn thiết (adj): earnest, urgent. Describes the manner of a plea.
- Lời cầu xin khẩn thiết. (An earnest plea.)
- Van xin (v): to beg, to implore.
- Nó van xin sự tha thứ. (He begged for forgiveness.)
Synonyms
- I beseech you: To ask someone earnestly or desperately.
- I implore you: To beg someone urgently.
- I entreat you: To ask someone seriously and anxiously.
Related Idioms
- Lạy ông tôi ở bụi này: A related, though more folksy and proverbial, expression of desperate begging (literally, "I bow to you, my ancestor in this bush").
- Thiên lý van lý: An idiom meaning to plead or beg over a great distance, emphasizing persistence in entreaty.