vắng tanh
Definition
- Adjective:
- Completely deserted / utterly empty: Describes a place that is totally devoid of people, activity, or sound, emphasizing an extreme and often eerie state of emptiness and quiet.
- Deathly quiet / profoundly still: Emphasizes an absolute, sometimes unsettling, absence of noise or movement.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Công viên vắng tanh lúc nửa đêm. (The park was completely deserted at midnight.)
- Sau buổi họp, văn phòng trở nên vắng tanh. (After the meeting, the office became utterly empty.)
- Căn nhà cũ vắng tanh không một tiếng động. (The old house was deathly quiet, without a sound.)
Advanced Usage
- The word "vắng tanh" is an intensified form of "vắng" (empty, absent). The suffix "-tanh" adds a strong emphatic quality, conveying a sense of totality and often a negative or forlorn atmosphere. It is more literary and evocative than the neutral "vắng".
Variants and Related Words
- Vắng (adj): empty, absent, not present.
- Phòng học rất vắng. (The classroom is very empty.)
- Vắng ngắt (adj): synonym for "vắng tanh," meaning utterly deserted and silent.
- Con đường làng vắng ngắt. (The village road was utterly deserted.)
- Vắng vẻ (adj): quiet, secluded, sparsely populated (less intense than "vắng tanh").
- Một khu phố vắng vẻ. (A quiet neighborhood.)
Synonyms
- Deserted: abandoned, with no people present.
- Empty: containing no people or things.
- Still: deep quiet and absence of movement.
Related Idioms
- Vắng như chùa Bà Đanh: (as empty as Bà Đanh Pagoda) – a proverbial idiom meaning a place is completely deserted and unpopular.
- Quán cà phê mới mở nên vắng như chùa Bà Đanh. (The new coffee shop is as empty as Bà Đanh Pagoda.)