Definition

1. Verb:
   • To push out, to push up (from below): To exert force to move something upward or outward from a lower or inner position.
   • To pass the buck, to shift responsibility: To avoid a difficult task or duty by transferring it to someone else.
   • (Vulgar, of children) To shit oneself: To involuntarily defecate in one's pants.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Giun đùn đất lên mặt đất. (Worms push up earth to the surface.)
  • Khói đen đùn lên từ các ống khói nhà máy. (Black smoke coiled up from the factory chimneys.)
  • Anh ta luôn tìm cách đùn việc khó cho đồng nghiệp. (He always tries to shift the hard work to his colleagues.)
  • Đứa bé sợ quá nên đùn ra quần. (The child was so scared that he shit his pants.)

Advanced Usage

• "Đùn đẩy": This is a common compound verb meaning to shirk, to evade, or to pass the buck repeatedly.
  • Hai bên cứ đùn đẩy trách nhiệm cho nhau. (The two sides keep shirking responsibility onto each other.)
• "Ỉa đùn": A vulgar, childish phrase meaning to soil oneself.
  • Trẻ con đôi khi bị ỉa đùn khi hoảng sợ. (Children sometimes shit themselves when terrified.)

Variants and Related Words

• Đùn đẩy (v): To shirk, to evade responsibility. This is the most common usage in modern Vietnamese for the concept of shifting blame or work.
• Sự đùn đẩy (n): The act of shirking or evading.

Synonyms

• Đẩy (v): To push. (More general; lacks the specific connotations of upward motion or shifting blame).
• Chối bỏ trách nhiệm (v phrase): To deny responsibility.
• Ỉa (v, vulgar): To shit. (The base verb, without the connotation of doing it in one's pants).

Related Phrases

• Đùn việc: To pass off work (to someone else).
  • Sếp không được đùn việc xuống cho nhân viên một cách vô lý. (The boss must not unreasonably pass off work down to the employees.)

1. Push out, push up (from below)
   • Giun đùn đất
     Worms push up earth
   • Khói đùn từ mặt đất lên
     Smoke coiled up from the earth
2. Pass the buck, shift the responsibility (of some hard job)
   • Đùn việc khó cho người khác
     To shift to another person
   • cũn nói ỉa đùn
     Shit oneself (of chindren)