Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Extremely hungry, ravenous: "đói ngấu" describes an intense, gnawing, or overwhelming feeling of hunger, often to the point of physical discomfort or pain. It implies a stronger degree than simply "đói" (hungry).

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Tôi chưa ăn gì cả ngày nên bây giờ đói ngấu. (I haven't eaten anything all day, so I'm ravenous now.)
  • Sau buổi tập dài, các cầu thủ trở về phòng thay đồ với cái bụng đói ngấu. (After the long practice, the players returned to the locker room with ravenous hunger.)

Advanced Usage

• "Đói ngấu nghiến": This is an intensified variant, adding "nghiến" (to gnash/grind) to emphasize the painful, gnawing sensation of extreme hunger.
  • Đi lạc trong rừng hai ngày, anh ta đói ngấu nghiến. (Lost in the forest for two days, he was painfully, ravenously hungry.)

Variants and Related Words

• Đói (adj): Hungry. The basic, standard term.
• Đói meo/đói mèm (adj): Colloquial terms for being very hungry.
• Đói cồn cào (adj): Describes hunger causing a churning or rumbling sensation in the stomach.
• Thèm ăn (verb phrase): To crave food, to feel like eating something specific.

Synonyms

• Đói kinh khủng: Terribly hungry.
• Đói thấy mồ: (Idiomatic) So hungry one can see ghosts; ravenous.

Related Idioms

• Đói đầu gối phải bò: (Proverb) Literally "When hungry, the knees must crawl." Meaning necessity forces one to do things they normally wouldn't; akin to "Necessity is the mother of invention" or highlighting desperation.
• Đói ăn vụng, túng làm càn: (Proverb) Literally "Hungry, one eats stealthily; desperate, one acts recklessly." Similar to "Necessity knows no law," describing how extreme need can lead to rash actions.

1. Feel the gnawing pains of hunger