đoản văn
Definition
- Noun:
- Short text / brief article: A piece of writing that is concise and limited in length, often focusing on a single subject or idea. It implies a complete but succinct composition.
- Short essay / vignette: A short literary work, often descriptive, reflective, or narrative, that is shorter than a standard essay or story.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Cô ấy viết một đoản văn về kỷ niệm tuổi thơ. (She wrote a short text about a childhood memory.)
- Tạp chí đăng một đoản văn rất hay về tình bạn. (The magazine published a very good brief article about friendship.)
- Đây là một đoản văn miêu tả cảnh biển lúc bình minh. (This is a short vignette describing the seascape at dawn.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is often used in literary or academic contexts to distinguish a short, self-contained piece of writing from longer forms like novels (), reports (), or full-length essays ().
- It can describe various short forms, such as a concise opinion piece, a descriptive passage, or a brief narrative.
Variants and Related Words
- Bài văn ngắn (n): a short essay or composition. This is a more common and general phrase for a short piece of writing.
- Học sinh phải viết một bài văn ngắn. (The student must write a short essay.)
- Tiểu luận ngắn (n): a short essay, often with an academic or formal tone.
- Đoạn văn (n): a paragraph. This refers specifically to a distinct section of a longer text, not a standalone composition like .
Synonyms
- Short piece: A brief work of writing.
- Brief article: A short, often journalistic, composition.
- Vignette: A short, evocative description, account, or episode.
Related Idioms
- While itself is not typically part of a common idiom, the concept relates to the idiom:
- Ngắn gọn súc tích: concise and meaningful. This phrase describes the ideal quality of a good đoản văn.
- Bài phát biểu của cô ấy ngắn gọn súc tích như một đoản văn hay. (Her speech was concise and meaningful, like a good short piece.)