tương tàn
Definition
Verb Phrase: - To fight or harm each other; to engage in mutual destruction or fratricide: This phrase describes a situation where individuals or groups, often those who should be allied (like siblings or comrades), inflict damage, injury, or death upon one another. It conveys a sense of tragic internal conflict.
Usage Examples
- Verb Phrase:
- Huynh đệ tương tàn là một bi kịch. (Brothers fighting each other is a tragedy.)
- Hai phe trong nội bộ công ty đang tương tàn, làm suy yếu cả tập thể. (The two factions within the company are harming each other, weakening the entire organization.)
- Lịch sử đã chứng kiến nhiều cuộc nội chiến tương tàn. (History has witnessed many fratricidal civil wars.)
Advanced Usage
- The phrase "tương tàn" is almost exclusively used in the context of internal, self-destructive conflict. It carries a strong negative and lamenting connotation, often implying that the conflict is wasteful, tragic, and against a natural or moral order (e.g., familial loyalty, national unity).
Variants and Related Words
- Nội chiến (n): Civil war. A large-scale armed conflict between groups within the same country.
- Cuộc nội chiến tàn khốc kéo dài hàng thập kỷ. (The brutal civil war lasted for decades.)
- Tương sát (v): To kill each other. This is a more direct synonym focusing specifically on mutual killing.
- Các băng đảng đường phố tương sát vì lãnh thổ. (The street gangs are killing each other over territory.)
Synonyms
- Fratricide: The act of killing one's brother or sibling; by extension, conflict within a group.
- Internecine: (Of conflict) occurring within a group or organization, and mutually destructive.
- Mutual destruction: The process of two or more parties destroying each other.
Related Idioms
- Huynh đệ tương tàn: This is the most classic and fixed idiom containing the phrase. It translates directly to "brothers harming each other" and is the quintessential example of its usage, symbolizing any deeply tragic internal strife.
- Câu chuyện cổ tích đó là một bài học về thảm kịch huynh đệ tương tàn. (That fairy tale is a lesson about the tragedy of fratricide.)