đen nhẻm
Definition
- Adjective:
- Deeply or uniformly black; sooty black: Describes something that is very dark black in color, often with connotations of being stained, grimy, or covered in soot. It implies a darkness that is intense and often dirty or unappealing.
- Figuratively, unlucky or unfortunate: Used colloquially to describe a streak of very bad luck or an unfortunate situation.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Sau vụ cháy, bức tường bị đen nhẻm. (After the fire, the wall was blackened and sooty.)
- Tay cậu bé đen nhẻm vì nghịch than. (The boy's hands were grimy black from playing with charcoal.)
- Dạo này anh ấy đen nhẻm, làm gì cũng thất bại. (Lately he's been terribly unlucky; everything he does fails.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is often used to emphasize a state of being not just black, but unpleasantly or excessively black due to dirt, smoke, or misfortune. It carries a stronger, more vivid descriptive weight than simply "đen" (black).
Variants and Related Words
- Đen (adj): black. The root word.
- Đen kịt (adj): pitch black, jet black. Similar in intensity but may not always carry the "dirty" connotation.
- Đen thui (adj): completely black; also used figuratively for bad luck.
Synonyms
- Sooty: covered with or colored like soot.
- Jet-black: deep, glossy black.
- Grimy: covered with dirt.
- Unlucky: having or marked by bad luck.
Related Idioms
- Đen như mực: as black as ink. A simile for deep black color.
- Vận đen: bad luck. A common phrase for misfortune.
- Đen tình đen số: to be unlucky in love and fate.