thổ tả

Definition
  1. Noun:
    • Cholera: An acute infectious disease characterized by severe watery diarrhea and vomiting, often leading to dehydration.
    • Something extremely poor in quality: Used as a colloquial and derogatory adjective to describe something as worthless, shoddy, or of the lowest quality.
Usage Examples
  • Noun (Disease):
    • Dịch thổ tả đã bùng phát ở vùng này. (A cholera epidemic has broken out in this region.)
  • Adjective (Poor Quality):
    • Chiếc xe thổ tả này hỏng suốt. (This shoddy car breaks down constantly.)
    • Đừng mua món hàng thổ tả đó. (Don't buy that worthless merchandise.)
Advanced Usage
  • The term is often used in informal, disparaging contexts to express strong contempt for the quality of an object.
  • It can function as a predicate adjective following the noun it describes (e.g., ).
Variants and Related Words
  • Bệnh thổ tả (n): The disease cholera. This is the full, formal medical term.
    • Bệnh thổ tả lây lan qua nước ô nhiễm. (Cholera spreads through contaminated water.)
Synonyms
  • Cholera: The infectious disease.
  • Shoddy: Badly made or done.
  • Worthless: Having no real value or use.
  • Rubbishy: Of very poor quality.
Related Idioms
  • While not a fixed idiom, the phrase "thổ tả" itself is used idiomatically to mean "utterly terrible" when describing non-medical things.
    • Dịch vụ ở đây thổ tả quá! (The service here is absolutely terrible!)