Definition

1. Noun:

   • A smoking pipe: A device, typically with a bowl and stem, used for smoking tobacco. This includes traditional pipes and specific types like the hubble-bubble or hookah.
   • A cigarette (shortened form): A colloquial shortening of "điếu thuốc," meaning a single cigarette.

2. Verb:

   • To condole, to offer condolences: The act of expressing sympathy, especially by formally visiting or presenting condolences to someone who has experienced a death.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • Ông già hút thuốc bằng điếu. (The old man smokes with a pipe.)
  • Anh ta hút một điếu mỗi giờ. (He smokes a cigarette every hour.)

• Verb:

  • Cả gia đình đi điếu ông chủ. (The whole family went to offer condolences to the deceased master.)

Advanced Usage

• The word "điếu" is often part of compound nouns. When used alone as a noun, context is essential to determine if it means a pipe or a cigarette.
• As a verb, "điếu" is formal and specifically used in the context of mourning rituals and visits.

Variants and Related Words

• Điếu cày (n): A specific type of traditional Vietnamese water pipe.

  • Người nông dân nghỉ ngơi và hút điếu cày. (The farmer rests and smokes a water pipe.)

• Điếu thuốc (n): The full term for a cigarette.

  • Cô ấy mua một bao điếu thuốc. (She bought a pack of cigarettes.)

• Điếu văn (n): A funeral oration, a eulogy.

  • Ông ấy đọc bài điếu văn cảm động. (He read a moving eulogy.)

Synonyms

• Pipe: for the smoking device.
• Cigarette: for the shortened form.
• Condole, offer condolences: for the verb form.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Hút điếu: To smoke a pipe/cigarette.

  • Sau bữa tối, ông ấy thích hút điếu. (After dinner, he likes to smoke a pipe.)

• Đi điếu: To go to offer condolences (a common verb-noun phrase).

  • Họ đi điếu người hàng xóm mới mất. (They went to offer condolences for the neighbor who passed away.)

1. Pipe, hubble-bubble pipe, hookah
   • Làm ơn đưa tối cái điếu
     Please pass me the hubble-bubble
   • Điếu thuốc (nói tắt)
     Cigarette
   • Sau mỗi bữa ăn hút một điếu
     To smoke a cigarette after each meal
2. Condole on somebody's death, present condolences on somebody's death
   • Đi điếu vợ bạn chết
     To go and present condolences on the death of a friend's wife