Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Furtive; stealthy: Describes moving or acting in a secretive, quiet, and cautious manner to avoid being noticed.
   • Lurking; skulking: Suggests moving about while trying to stay hidden, often with a connotation of being up to no good or being isolated.

2. Adverb:

   • Furtively; stealthily: Describes the manner of doing something in a secretive and sneaky way.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • Nó đi một mình thui lủi trong đêm. (He walked alone, furtively, in the night.)
  • Bóng đen thui lủi sau bụi cây. (A dark figure lurked stealthily behind the bushes.)

• Adverb:

  • Con mèo thui lủi bò vào bếp. (The cat crept stealthily into the kitchen.)

Advanced Usage

• The word often conveys a sense of loneliness, isolation, or pitiful secrecy in addition to stealth.
  • Nó sống thui lủi một mình trong căn nhà nhỏ. (He lived a solitary, lurking life in the small house.)

Variants and Related Words

• Lủi thủi (adj/adv): A near-synonym meaning alone, solitary, or dejectedly by oneself, often with a slightly stronger emphasis on loneliness than stealth.
  • Nó đi lủi thủi trên con đường vắng. (He walked dejectedly alone on the empty road.)

Synonyms

• Lén lút: stealthy, sneaky.
• Lặng lẽ: quietly, silently (but without the negative connotation).
• Ẩn nấp: to hide, to lurk.

Related Idioms

• Thui thủi một mình: To be all alone, often with a sense of being lonely or pitiful.
  • Cụ già sống thui thủi một mình. (The old man lived all by his lonesome.)