vỡ vạc
Definition
- Verb (informal):
- To clear (land) for cultivation: The primary meaning refers to the act of preparing and making virgin or overgrown land usable for farming by removing trees, bushes, and other obstacles.
- To figure out; to finally understand (a complex issue): An extended, figurative meaning used to describe the process of analyzing and clarifying a complicated, tangled, or confusing matter until it becomes clear and comprehensible.
Usage Examples
- Verb:
- Ông cha ta đã vỡ vạc vùng đất này để trồng lúa. (Our ancestors cleared this land to grow rice.)
- Sau nhiều ngày nghiên cứu, anh ấy đã vỡ vạc được nguyên nhân của sự cố. (After many days of research, he finally figured out the cause of the problem.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is informal and carries a connotation of tackling something raw, wild, or initially impenetrable and transforming it into something orderly and usable, whether it is physical land or an abstract problem.
Variants and Related Words
- Khai hoang (v): a more formal and common synonym meaning "to reclaim virgin land" or "to pioneer."
- Chính sách khai hoang lập ấp. (The policy of land reclamation and settlement.)
Synonyms
- To clear land: to remove vegetation from land for cultivation.
- To reclaim: to make wasteland or wetland fit for use.
- To figure out: to solve or understand something after thought.
- To elucidate: to make something clear; to explain.
Related Idioms
- While "vỡ vạc" itself is not typically part of a fixed idiom, its figurative use relates to the concept of "vỡ lẽ" (to suddenly realize or understand).
- Nghe giải thích xong, tôi mới vỡ lẽ. (After hearing the explanation, I finally understood.)