Definition

1. Verb:
   • To cultivate and fertilize: The primary meaning of "vun bón" refers to the agricultural practice of caring for plants by heaping soil around their base (hilling) and adding nutrients (fertilizing) to promote healthy growth.
   • To nurture / to care for diligently: In a figurative sense, "vun bón" means to invest great care, effort, and resources into developing something or someone over time.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Người nông dân vun bón cho từng gốc lúa. (The farmer cultivated and fertilized each rice plant.)
  • Muốn cây ra nhiều quả thì phải thường xuyên vun bón. (If you want the tree to bear much fruit, you must regularly cultivate and fertilize it.)
  • Cha mẹ vun bón cho con cái ăn học. (Parents nurture their children's education.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used metaphorically to describe the careful fostering of abstract things like relationships, talents, or projects.
  • Cô ấy đã vun bón cho mối quan hệ đó nhiều năm. (She nurtured that relationship for many years.)

Variants and Related Words

• Vun xới (v): to till and hoe the soil; to prepare and care for the land. This focuses more on the physical soil preparation aspect.

  • Vun xới đất trước khi gieo hạt. (Till the soil before sowing seeds.)

• Bón phân (v): to fertilize; to apply fertilizer. This is a more specific component of "vun bón."

  • Bón phân hữu cơ cho rau. (Apply organic fertilizer to the vegetables.)

Synonyms

• Cultivate: to prepare and use land for crops; to try to acquire or develop.
• Nurture: to care for and encourage the growth or development of.
• Fertilize: to add a substance to soil to make plants grow better.
• Tend: to care for or look after.

Related Idioms

• Vun bón cơ nghiệp: to build up and nurture a career or family fortune.
  • Ông cha ta đã vun bón cơ nghiệp từ hai bàn tay trắng. (Our forefathers built up the family fortune from nothing.)