đâm mầm
Definition
- Verb:
- To germinate: The primary meaning of "đâm mầm" is for a seed or plant to begin to grow and sprout a new shoot or bud.
- To sprout: To put forth new growth, such as a bud, shoot, or leaf, from a seed or existing plant part.
Usage Examples
- Verb:
- Hạt giống đã bắt đầu đâm mầm. (The seed has begun to germinate.)
- Cây sau mùa đông bắt đầu đâm mầm non. (The tree began to sprout new buds after winter.)
- Củ khoai tây để lâu trong bếp đã đâm mầm. (The potato left in the kitchen for a long time has sprouted.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is used almost exclusively in a botanical or agricultural context to describe the initial stage of a plant's growth.
Variants and Related Words
- Nảy mầm (v): to germinate, to sprout. This is a very close synonym.
- Hạt đậu nảy mầm sau hai ngày. (The bean sprouted after two days.)
Synonyms
- Germinate: (of a seed) to begin to grow and put out shoots.
- Sprout: to produce new leaves, buds, or shoots.
- Shoot: to put forth new growth.
Related Idioms
- While "đâm mầm" itself is not commonly used in idioms, the concept is central to the idiom "Vạn sự khởi đầu nan" (All things are difficult at the beginning), analogous to the difficult start of a seed germinating.