tù khổ sai

Definition

1. Noun:
   • Hard labor prisoner: A person who has been convicted of a crime and sentenced to a severe form of punishment involving compulsory, physically demanding, and often brutal work, typically in a prison or labor camp setting. This term carries historical weight, often associated with colonial-era penal systems.
   • Convict sentenced to forced labor: Specifically refers to the convict's status as someone condemned to perform grueling manual labor as their primary punishment.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Những tù khổ sai phải lao động cật lực trong điều kiện khắc nghiệt. (The hard labor prisoners had to toil strenuously in harsh conditions.)
  • Dưới thời thuộc địa, nhiều người yêu nước bị kết án thành tù khổ sai. (During the colonial era, many patriots were sentenced to become convicts at hard labor.)

Advanced Usage

• The term "tù khổ sai" is primarily historical and legal. It is used to describe a specific, severe category of punishment from past judicial systems, particularly the French colonial administration in Indochina. It implies a loss of freedom combined with state-imposed, exhaustive physical labor.

Variants and Related Words

• Khổ sai (noun): The sentence of hard labor itself; forced labor.
  • Bản án khổ sai năm năm. (A five-year sentence of hard labor.)
• Tù nhân (noun): A general term for prisoner or inmate.
• Tù cải tạo (noun): Re-education prisoner, a term from a different historical period.

Synonyms

• Hard labor convict
• Forced labor prisoner
• Galley slave (in a specific historical context)
• Chain gang prisoner

Related Idioms

• While there is no direct idiom with "tù khổ sai", the concept is related to expressions about severe punishment or hardship, such as:
  • Sống đọa đày: To live a life of torment/misery.

    • Cuộc sống của tù khổ sai như sống đọa đày. (The life of a hard labor prisoner was like living in torment.)