Definition

1. Verb:
   • To stammer, to stutter: To speak with involuntary pauses, repetitions, or prolongations of sounds, often due to nervousness, hesitation, or difficulty finding words.
   • To hem and haw, to falter: To speak in a hesitant, uncertain, or unclear manner, typically when trying to answer a difficult question or when lacking confidence.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Cậu bé ấp úng khi cô giáo hỏi bài. (The boy stammered when the teacher asked him about the lesson.)
  • Anh ấy ấp úng mãi không trả lời được câu hỏi của cảnh sát. (He hemmed and hawed for a long time without being able to answer the police officer's question.)
  • Cô ấy ấp úng xin lỗi vì đã đến muộn. (She faltered an apology for being late.)

Advanced Usage

• "ấp úng như ngậm hột thị": To stammer badly, as if one has a potato in one's mouth (a vivid simile for severe stammering).

  • Cậu ấy lo lắng đến mức ấp úng như ngậm hột thị. (He was so nervous that he stammered as if he had a potato in his mouth.)

• "ấp a ấp úng": To stammer repeatedly and badly (a reduplicative form emphasizing the intensity and continuous nature of the stammering).

  • Người chứng kiến ấp a ấp úng khi kể lại vụ tai nạn. (The witness stammered badly while recounting the accident.)

Variants and Related Words

• Ngập ngừng (verb): To hesitate, to falter (often refers to hesitation in action or speech, but can be less specific to speech disfluency than "ấp úng").
• Lắp bắp (verb): To stutter, to stammer (very close in meaning, often used interchangeably with "ấp úng").

Synonyms

• Nói lắp: To stutter.
• Nói ngập ngừng: To speak hesitantly.

Related Idioms

• "Câm như hến": (To be) as silent as a clam (mute, speechless). This describes an inability to speak at all, whereas "ấp úng" describes difficult, halting speech.
• "Nói không ra hơi": To be unable to get a word out (due to strong emotion like anger or fear). This implies a temporary speechlessness, while "ấp úng" implies struggling to articulate.

verb

1. to hum and haw, to stammer
   • ấp úng mãi không trả lời được
     to hum and haw for long moments without being able to give an answer
   • ấp úng như ngậm hột thị
     to stammer as if one has a potato in one's mouth
   • ấp a ấp úng
     to stammer badly