Definition

1. Verb:
   • To shackle and bind: The primary meaning of "trăng trói" is the specific act of restraining someone by placing a wooden collar (cangue) around their neck and tying their hands. It describes a historical or oppressive form of punishment and physical restraint.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Bọn địa chủ ác độc thường trăng trói những người nông dân không chịu nộp tô. (The cruel landlords would often shackle and bind farmers who refused to pay rent.)
  • Hình phạt trăng trói là một cách tra tấn man rợ thời phong kiến. (The punishment of shackling and binding was a barbaric method of torture in feudal times.)

Advanced Usage

• The term "trăng trói" is almost exclusively used in historical or literary contexts to depict injustice, cruelty, and the abuse of power by authorities, landlords, or oppressive figures in pre-modern Vietnamese society.

Variants and Related Words

• Trói (v): to tie, to bind.

  • Họ trói tay tù nhân lại. (They tied the prisoner's hands.)

• Gông (n): cangue; a heavy wooden collar used as punishment.

  • Tên tội phạm bị đeo gông. (The criminal was put in a cangue.)

Synonyms

• To manacle: To confine with shackles.
• To fetter: To chain or restrain.
• To shackle: To bind with chains or restraints.

Related Idioms

• While "trăng trói" itself is not commonly part of a wider idiom, its components evoke the fixed expression "mang gông vào cổ" (to put a cangue on one's neck), which metaphorically means to take on a heavy burden or responsibility.
  • Nhận việc đó chẳng khác nào mang gông vào cổ. (Taking that job is like putting a cangue on your own neck.)