thóc

Người nông dân đang phơi thóc trên sân.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • Unhusked rice / Paddy: The grain of the rice plant (Oryza sativa) still enclosed in its inedible, hard outer husk (the lemma and palea). It is the raw, unprocessed state of rice before milling.
   • Unmilled rice: Refers specifically to the harvested seeds that have not undergone threshing or hulling to remove the husk and become edible rice.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Nhà tôi vừa thu hoạch được mười tấn thóc. (My family just harvested ten tons of unhusked rice.)
  • Thóc được phơi khô trước khi đem xay. (The paddy is dried before being milled.)
  • Kho thóc đầy ắp. (The paddy storage bin is full.)

Advanced Usage

• In agricultural and economic contexts, "thóc" is a key commodity and measure of harvest yield. It is the primary product traded from rice farms before processing.

Variants and Related Words

• Lúa (n): The rice plant while growing in the field, or the rice crop.

  • Cánh đồng lúa chín vàng. (The field of ripe rice plants is golden yellow.)

• Gạo (n): Husked, milled, edible rice grains; the final product after "thóc" is processed.

  • Nồi cơm đang nấu từ gạo mới. (The rice cooker is making rice from new grains.)

• Xay thóc / Xát thóc (v): To mill or husk paddy to produce "gạo".

  • Máy xay đang xát thóc. (The mill is husking the paddy.)

Synonyms

• Paddy: The most direct English equivalent, especially in agricultural contexts.
• Unhusked rice: Descriptive term for the grain's state.
• Rough rice: A technical term used in grain trading and processing.

Related Idioms and Proverbs

• "Thóc đâu bồ câu đấy": Literally "Where the paddy is, there the pigeons are." This proverb means that people are attracted to places of benefit or profit, similar to "Where there's honey, there's flies."

  • Cửa hàng mới mở bán rẻ, thóc đâu bồ câu đấy. (The new store opened with cheap prices; everyone flocks to where the benefit is.)

• "Có thóc mới đãi được gà": Literally "Only when you have paddy can you entertain the chickens." It means you must have resources or capital before you can undertake a project or be generous.

  • Muốn đầu tư thì phải có vốn, có thóc mới đãi được gà mà. (To invest, you must have capital; you need resources to get things done.)