vêu mõm

Definition

1. Adjective (colloquial, vulgar):
   • To have nothing to eat; to go hungry: Describes a state of having no food, often leading to visible hunger or distress.
   • To be broke; to be penniless: Extends to a state of having no money, often resulting in an inability to buy food or necessities.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Cả tuần nay tụi nó vêu mõm vì không có việc làm. (They've been going hungry all week because they have no jobs.)
  • Lương chưa về, tháng này lại vêu mõm. (The salary hasn't come in, so we're broke again this month.)
  • Nhìn mấy đứa trẻ vêu mõm mà thương. (Looking at the hungry children is heartbreaking.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is highly informal and carries a vulgar, blunt connotation. It is often used for dramatic or humorous emphasis on extreme poverty or hunger, typically in casual speech among peers. It is not suitable for formal contexts.

Variants and Related Words

• Vêu (adj, colloquial): Often used as a shorter, slightly less vulgar form with the same core meaning of having nothing to eat or being broke.

Synonyms

• Broke: Having no money.
• Penniless: Completely without money.
• Destitute: Lacking the means of subsistence.
• Starving: Suffering from severe hunger (often used hyperbolically).

Related Idioms

• Claquer du bec (from the French reference): A direct equivalent idiom meaning "to have nothing to eat," literally "to click one's beak."
• Cháy túi: A less vulgar idiom meaning "pocket is burned," i.e., to be out of money.
  • Đi chơi một hôm là cháy túi. (Going out for one day leaves me broke.)