ăn khan
Definition
- Verb phrase:
- To eat dry food: To consume a meal consisting solely of dry staples, such as plain rice or bread, without any accompanying dishes, sauces, or soups. This often implies a simple, meager, or rushed meal due to poverty, lack of time, or lack of provisions.
Usage Examples
- Verb phrase:
- Trên đường đi, chúng tôi phải ăn khan với cơm nguội. (On the road, we had to eat dry food with cold rice.)
- Hôm ấy nhà hết thức ăn, cả nhà chỉ ăn khan với bánh mì. (That day the house ran out of food, the whole family just ate dry food with bread.)
Advanced Usage
- The phrase can be used metaphorically to describe enduring hardship or accepting a situation without any additional benefits or comforts.
- Dự án này thiếu ngân sách, nhóm kỹ sư phải làm ăn khan, không có hỗ trợ nào. (This project is underfunded; the engineering team has to work "dry," without any support.)
Variants and Related Words
- Ăn đơn giản (v): to eat simply.
- Ăn qua bữa (v): to eat just to get through the meal.
Synonyms
- To eat plainly: To consume food without elaborate preparation or accompaniments.
- To have a dry meal: To eat food without any liquids or moist side dishes.
Related Idioms
- Ăn cơm khan, uống nước lã: To eat dry rice and drink plain water. This idiom emphasizes a life of extreme simplicity, poverty, or austerity.
- Thời sinh viên nghèo, tôi quen với cảnh ăn cơm khan, uống nước lã. (During my poor student days, I was accustomed to eating dry rice and drinking plain water.)