thiếu thời
Definition
- Noun:
- Youth / early years: The period of a person's life when they are young, typically referring to childhood and adolescence. It describes the formative stage before full adulthood.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Những kỷ niệm đẹp nhất của bà thường là từ thời thiếu thời. (Her most beautiful memories are often from her youth.)
- Ông ấy đã rời quê hương từ thuở thiếu thời. (He left his homeland from his early years.)
- Tình bạn thời thiếu thời thường rất trong sáng. (Friendships from youth are often very pure.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is formal and literary, often used in written narratives or reflective speech to evoke nostalgia.
- It can be used in a possessive structure, e.g., "thiếu thời của tôi" (my youth).
Variants and Related Words
- Tuổi trẻ (n): youth, young age. This is a more common and general synonym.
- Thời trẻ (n): one's young days. Similar in meaning but slightly less literary.
- Thơ ấu (n): childhood. Specifically refers to early childhood.
Synonyms
- Youth: the period between childhood and adult age.
- Adolescence: the transitional phase of growth between childhood and adulthood.
- Early life: the initial period of one's existence.
Related Idioms
- While "thiếu thời" itself is not typically part of a fixed idiom, it is conceptually related to expressions about youth.
- Tuổi thanh xuân: one's springtime of life; the prime of youth.
- Cô ấy đã dành cả tuổi thanh xuân cho nghệ thuật. (She devoted her entire youth to art.)