thầm vụng
Definition
- Adjective:
- Secret and furtive: Describes an action, especially an emotion or relationship, that is kept completely hidden from others and conducted in a stealthy, clandestine manner. It implies a combination of secrecy ("thầm") and covert action ("vụng").
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Họ yêu nhau thầm vụng suốt nhiều năm. (They loved each other secretly and furtively for many years.)
- Một cuộc hẹn thầm vụng trong công viên. (A secret and furtive rendezvous in the park.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is most commonly used to describe romantic feelings or relationships that must be concealed, often due to social, familial, or circumstantial obstacles. It carries a nuance of both the internal, private nature of the feeling ("thầm") and the cautious, hidden actions taken ("vụng").
Variants and Related Words
- Thầm kín (adj): secret, intimate, and deeply personal. This focuses more on the private, internal aspect rather than the furtive actions.
- Một ước mơ thầm kín. (A secret, personal dream.)
- Vụng trộm (adj): furtive, stealthy, often with a connotation of doing something clumsily or guiltily in secret.
- Họ gặp nhau vụng trộm. (They met each other furtively.)
Synonyms
- Clandestine: Kept secret or done secretively, especially because illicit.
- Surreptitious: Kept secret, especially because it would not be approved of.
- Covert: Not openly acknowledged or displayed.
Related Idioms
- Yêu thầm vụng: To love in secret.
- Câu chuyện về một tình yêu thầm vụng thời trẻ. (A story about a secret, furtive love from youth.)