ăn sống

Thân thiện

Một người đàn ông ăn sống một miếng cá hồi tươi.

Definition

Verb: - To eat raw/uncooked food: To consume food in its raw state, without cooking it. This often refers to vegetables, seafood, or meat prepared in dishes like salads or carpaccio. - (Figurative) To act hastily or thoughtlessly; to crush/destroy swiftly: Used metaphorically to describe acting without careful consideration or defeating someone/something completely and instantly.

Usage Examples

• Literal meaning:
  • Người Nhật thường ăn sống cá trong món sashimi. (The Japanese often eat raw fish in sashimi.)
  • Rau xà lách này có thể ăn sống được. (This lettuce can be eaten raw.)
• Figurative meaning:
  • Anh ta có tính ăn sống nuốt tươi, chưa nghe hết câu chuyện đã phán xét. (He has a habit of jumping to conclusions; he judges before hearing the whole story.)
  • Đội bóng đó ăn sống nuốt tươi đối thủ với tỉ số 5-0. (That team crushed the opponent with a score of 5-0.)

Advanced Usage

• "ăn sống nuốt tươi": This is a common idiomatic compound.
  • Literal sense: To eat something raw and swallow it whole, emphasizing consuming something completely uncooked.
  • Figurative senses:

    1. To act rashly, without thinking or deliberating.
    2. To overwhelm, suppress, or annihilate an opponent swiftly and completely.
  • Example: Đừng có ăn sống nuốt tươi lời tôi nói, hãy suy nghĩ kỹ đi. (Don't just swallow my words whole without thinking; consider them carefully.)

Variants and Related Words

• Sống (adj): Raw, uncooked, alive.
  • Thịt sống (raw meat)
• Ăn chín (verb phrase): To eat cooked food. (This is the common opposite of "ăn sống").
  • Ở vùng này, người dân thường ăn chín uống sôi để phòng bệnh. (In this region, people usually eat cooked food and drink boiled water to prevent disease.)

Synonyms

• Ăn tái (verb phrase): To eat (usually meat) rare or very lightly cooked. (This is different from completely raw "ăn sống").
  • Tôi thích ăn bò tái hơn là bò sống. (I prefer eating rare beef rather than raw beef.)
• Hấp tấp (adj): Hasty, rash. (A synonym for the figurative meaning of acting without thought).
• Nghiền nát (verb): To crush, to grind. (A synonym for the figurative meaning of destroying completely).

Related Idioms/Phrases

• "Ăn sống nuốt tươi": As detailed in the "Advanced Usage" section, this is the primary and almost inseparable idiomatic extension of "ăn sống". It carries stronger figurative connotations than "ăn sống" alone.

Notes on Usage

• The term "ăn sống" is most naturally used in its literal sense when talking about food.
• In modern Vietnamese, the figurative meanings are almost exclusively expressed through the four-character idiom "ăn sống nuốt tươi". Using "ăn sống" alone in a figurative sense might sound incomplete or less common.
• It is important to distinguish between the literal act of eating raw food (a culinary practice) and the idiomatic expression which describes behavior or competitive dominance.

Học thuật

verb

1. to eat uncooked food