Definition

1. Verb:
   • To open (one's eyes) very wide, to the maximum extent: This is the primary meaning, describing the action of opening the eyes extremely wide, often due to strong emotion.
   • To glare, to glower: This meaning describes staring with wide-open eyes, typically to express anger, threat, surprise, or intensity.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Anh ấy trợn mắt nhìn tôi đầy giận dữ. (He glared at me with wide-open eyes, full of anger.)
  • Cô ấy trợn tròn mắt vì ngạc nhiên. (She opened her eyes wide in surprise.)
  • Đừng có trợn mắt với tôi! (Don't you glare at me!)

Advanced Usage

• "trợn mắt": This is the most common and natural collocation. The verb trợn almost always requires the object mắt (eyes) to form a complete phrase meaning "to glare" or "to open one's eyes wide."
  • Thằng bé trợn mắt nhìn con ma. (The boy stared with wide eyes at the ghost.)
• "trợn trừng" / "trợn tròn": These are emphatic variations using reduplication for intensity, meaning "to stare with eyes wide open and bulging."
  • Hắn trợn trừng đôi mắt đỏ ngầu. (He glared with bloodshot eyes wide open.)

Variants and Related Words

• Chợn (x. chợn): A variant or related form, often seen in the reduplicated form trờn trợn (see below).
• Trờn trợn (adjective): A reduplicated form with an attenuated meaning, describing something that is blatant, brazen, or shamelessly obvious.
  • Lời nói dối trờn trợn. (A blatant lie.)
• Note on Culinary Usage (Historical/Idiomatic): In older or specific contexts (e.g., from the Vietnamese-French dictionary), trợn can describe food, like beans or rice, that is not fully cooked/softened or not well-husked. This usage is now rare in modern everyday language.
  • Đậu nấu còn trợn. (The beans are still hard/not fully cooked.)

Synonyms

• Lườm (verb): To glare, to look askance (often with anger or disapproval).
• Trừng (verb): To stare fixedly and sternly (often trừng mắt).

Related Idioms/Phrases

• Phồng má trợn mắt: Literally "to puff cheeks and glare." An idiom describing an extremely angry or threatening facial expression.
  • Anh ta phồng má trợn mắt lên quát. (He puffed his cheeks and glared, then shouted.)

verb

1. to glower