Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Ungrateful: Describes a person who does not show or feel gratitude for kindness or benefits received; who forgets or fails to acknowledge favors or help.

2. Verb (archaic/literary usage):

   • To be ungrateful / to forget a favor: The act of forgetting or failing to repay kindness or a debt of gratitude.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • Hắn là một kẻ vong ân. (He is an ungrateful person.)
  • Đừng có vong ân với người đã giúp mình. (Don't be ungrateful to the person who helped you.)

• Verb (archaic):

  • Làm người không nên vong ân. (One should not be ungrateful.)

Advanced Usage

• The word "vong ân" is most commonly and powerfully used in the fixed, four-character idiom "vong ân bội nghĩa", which means "ungrateful and treacherous" or "to be ungrateful and betray righteousness." This compound intensifies the meaning to include betrayal and a breach of moral faith.
  • Kẻ vong ân bội nghĩa sẽ bị mọi người khinh rẻ. (An ungrateful and treacherous person will be despised by everyone.)

Variants and Related Words

• Vong ân bội nghĩa (idiomatic phrase): Ungrateful and perfidious; to be ungrateful and break faith.
• Vong ơn (v): A less common variant with the same meaning as the verb form of "vong ân."

Synonyms

• Ungrateful: Not feeling or showing gratitude.
• Thankless: (Of a person) not expressing or feeling gratitude.
• Unappreciative: Not fully valuing or recognizing kindness.

Antonyms

• Biết ơn: Grateful, thankful.
• Trọng nghĩa: To value righteousness and loyalty.

Related Idioms

• Vong ân bội nghĩa: As described above, this is the primary and most severe idiom, condemning a profound moral failing involving both ingratitude and betrayal.
• Ăn cháo đá bát: (Lit: To eat the porridge and kick the bowl). An idiom meaning to bite the hand that feeds you; to be ungrateful to a benefactor.
  • Hắn giúp nó thành công, giờ nó phản lại, đúng là ăn cháo đá bát. (He helped him succeed, now he turns against him, that's truly biting the hand that feeds you.)

adj

1. ungrateful