tom tóp
Definition
Adjective:
- Shrivelled, shrunken, or withered: Describes something, typically organic like fruit, vegetables, or skin, that has lost moisture and volume, becoming smaller, wrinkled, and dry.
Adjective (figurative):
- Emaciated or gaunt: Used to describe a person or animal that appears extremely thin, undernourished, and withered.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Quả táo để lâu đã tom tóp hết. (The apple left out for too long has become completely shrivelled.)
- Làn da của ông cứ tom tóp lại vì lạnh. (His skin shrivelled up from the cold.)
- Adjective (figurative):
- Đứa trẻ thiếu ăn trông người tom tóp. (The malnourished child looks gaunt.)
Advanced Usage
- Often used in a reduplicative form for emphasis, which is its standard form: tom tóp.
- It vividly conveys a state of undesirable dryness and contraction, often due to age, lack of care, or harsh conditions.
Variants and Related Words
- Tóp (adj): This is the root component, also meaning shrivelled or sunken. "Tom tóp" is an intensive reduplicative form of "tóp".
- Má nó tóp lại vì mất răng. (His cheeks are sunken because he lost his teeth.)
Synonyms
- Shrivelled: Wrinkled and contracted due to loss of moisture.
- Withered: Dry and shrivelled, as if fading away.
- Gaunt: Extremely thin and bony, often from suffering or age.
- Emaciated: Abnormally thin or weak from illness or lack of food.
Related Idioms
- While "tom tóp" itself is not typically part of a fixed idiom, its imagery is used descriptively in phrases about poverty, neglect, or decay.
- Cả khu vườn tom tóp vì hạn hán. (The entire garden is withered due to the drought.)