Definition

1. Intransitive Verb:
   • To be heard faintly from a distance; to resound or echo softly from afar.
   • To be perceived as a distant, often indistinct, sound.

Usage Examples

• Intransitive Verb:
  • Từ trong nhà, tôi vẳng nghe tiếng cười ngoài ngõ. (From inside the house, I faintly heard laughter from the alley.)
  • Trong đêm khuya thanh vắng, tiếng chuông chùa vẳng lại. (In the quiet late night, the sound of the temple bell echoed faintly.)
  • Chỉ vẳng nghe tiếng mưa rơi tí tách. (Only the faint sound of dripping rain could be heard.)

Advanced Usage

• "vẳng vẳng": A reduplicated form used to emphasize the faint, distant, and continuous nature of a sound.
  • Tiếng đàn bầu vẳng vẳng đâu đây. (The sound of the monochord was faintly echoing here and there.)
• Often used in literary and poetic contexts to create an atmosphere of solitude, memory, or melancholy, describing sounds that seem to travel across space or time.
  • Tiếng hát ngày xưa vẫn còn vẳng bên tai. (The singing from the old days still faintly resonates in my ears.)

Variants and Related Words

• Văng vẳng: (Adverb/Adjective) Describes a sound that is faint, distant, and echoing. It is the most common compound form.
  • Văng vẳng bên tai lời mẹ dặn. (My mother's advice echoes faintly in my ear.)
• Vọng: (Verb) To echo, to resound, to be transmitted (often louder or clearer than ).
  • Tiếng loa vọng khắp làng. (The loudspeaker's sound echoed throughout the village.)

Synonyms

• Vọng lại: to echo back.
• Nghe thoảng: to hear fleetingly/faintly.
• Dội lại: to reverberate, to resound (often implies a stronger reflection of sound).

Notes on Meaning

• Core Concept: specifically describes the auditory experience of a sound that originates from a distance, losing its clarity and volume by the time it reaches the listener. It implies separation and a degree of obscurity.
• Nuance: Unlike vang (to resound loudly) or vọng (to echo clearly), carries a poetic, subtle, and often melancholic connotation. It is the sound that barely arrives, requiring the listener to be attentive.

verb

1. to resound faintly