đùn đùn
Definition
Adjective:
- In a great mass; in a great crowd: Describes a large, dense, and often disorderly gathering or accumulation of people, animals, or things, moving or pressed together.
Adverb:
- In great throngs; in massive numbers: Used to describe the manner in which people or things move, gather, or appear, emphasizing the overwhelming and continuous quantity.
Usage Examples
Adjective:
- Đám đông kéo đến đùn đùn trước cổng. (The crowd gathered in a great mass in front of the gate.)
- Hàng hóa chất đùn đùn trong kho. (Goods were piled up in a great mass in the warehouse.)
Adverb:
- Người dân đổ về đùn đùn để xem lễ hội. (People flocked in great throngs to see the festival.)
- Nước mắt chảy đùn đùn. (Tears streamed forth in great quantity.)
Advanced Usage
- The word đùn đùn often carries a slightly vulgar or informal connotation, emphasizing an overwhelming, chaotic, or excessive amount. It is typically used in descriptive narratives.
Variants and Related Words
Đùn (v): to push, to shove, to cause to bulge out. This is the root verb.
- Đùn hành lý lên giá. (Push the luggage onto the rack.)
Đùn đẩy (v): to shirk, to evade responsibility (by pushing it onto others).
- Anh ta luôn đùn đẩy công việc. (He always shirks work.)
Synonyms
- In droves: in large groups.
- En masse: in a single group or body.
- In a throng: in a large, densely packed crowd.
Related Idioms
- While đùn đùn itself is not typically part of a fixed idiom, its imagery is related to expressions of overwhelming quantity or pressure.
- Kéo đến đùn đùn: to arrive in a massive, pressing crowd.