thợ cày
Definition
- Noun:
- Ploughman: A person whose occupation is to plough fields, typically using a plough drawn by animals such as oxen or buffaloes. This is the primary and traditional meaning.
- Farm laborer / Field worker: More broadly, it can refer to a manual laborer working in agriculture, specifically in tilling the soil.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Người thợ cày ấy đã làm việc trên cánh đồng cả đời. (That ploughman has worked in the fields his whole life.)
- Công việc của một thợ cày rất vất vả. (The work of a ploughman is very hard.)
Advanced Usage
- The term "thợ cày" evokes traditional, pre-mechanized agriculture. In modern contexts, it may be used metaphorically or historically.
- Trong thơ ca, hình ảnh thợ cày tượng trưng cho sự cần cù. (In poetry, the image of the ploughman symbolizes diligence.)
Variants and Related Words
- Cày (v): to plough.
- Bác nông dân đang cày ruộng. (The farmer is ploughing the field.)
- Thợ cấy (n): transplanting laborer (a person who transplants rice seedlings).
- Nông dân (n): farmer (a more general term).
Synonyms
- Ploughman
- Plowman (American English spelling)
- Tiller
- Field hand
Related Idioms
- Cày như trâu: to work like an ox; to work extremely hard without rest.
- Anh ấy làm việc cày như trâu để nuôi gia đình. (He works like an ox to support his family.)
- Đầu trâu mặt ngựa: (literally "buffalo head, horse face") a rude idiom describing someone with a fierce, ugly, or cruel appearance. While not containing "thợ cày", it shares the agricultural animal imagery.