vô phước
Definition
Adjective:
- Unfortunate / Unblessed: Describes a person who lacks good fortune, happiness, or divine favor, often leading to a hard or sorrowful life.
- Ill-fated / Cursed: Can imply a state of being doomed to misfortune or suffering, as if under a curse.
Interjection (exclamatory phrase):
- "How unfortunate!" / "Poor thing!": Used to express pity, sympathy, or lament for someone's miserable or unlucky situation.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Đứa bé bị bỏ rơi thật là vô phước. (The abandoned child is truly unfortunate.)
- Sống một cuộc đời vô phước. (To live an ill-fated life.)
- Interjection:
- Vô phước! Nó mất việc lại còn bị ốm. (Poor thing! He lost his job and then got sick.)
Advanced Usage
- Often used in Southern Vietnamese dialect. The standard Northern equivalent is "vô phúc", carrying identical meanings.
- Can describe a permanent state of misfortune or be used as a momentary exclamation of pity.
Variants and Related Words
- Vô phúc (adj, interj): The standard form meaning unfortunate, unlucky, ill-starred.
- Số nó vô phúc. (Her lot in life is unlucky.)
- Bất hạnh (adj): Unfortunate, unhappy, miserable (more formal/literary).
- Khốn khổ (adj): Wretched, distressed, miserable.
Synonyms
- Unlucky: Having or marked by bad luck.
- Hapless: Unfortunate, especially in a pitiable sense.
- Wretched: In a state of deep misery or misfortune.
Related Idioms
- Vô phước vô phận: To be utterly without fortune or destiny; to be completely luckless and doomed.
- Cô ta cảm thấy mình vô phước vô phận. (She felt she was utterly luckless and doomed.)
- Số vô phước: An unlucky fate or destiny.
- Anh ấy than thở về số vô phước của mình. (He lamented his unlucky fate.)