bồi

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The Vietnamese word "bồi" can be understood in different contexts and has several meanings. Here’s a breakdown to help you as a new learner:

Meanings and Usage

1. Noun Usage:

   • Waiter (bồi bàn): This refers to someone who serves food and drinks in a restaurant.
   • Houseboy (bồi): This can refer to a male servant who helps with household chores, especially in colonial contexts.
   • Hotel room boy (bồi phòng): This is a person who assists guests in a hotel, often carrying luggage or providing room service.

2. Verb Usage:

   • To strengthen: In this context, "bồi" means to reinforce something by adding extra layers or materials.
   • To raise the level or extend the area: This can refer to adding soil or materials to increase the height or area of something, like a dyke.

Advanced Usage

• "Bồi" can also be used in more specific contexts related to construction or art, such as reinforcing a painting's back (bồi bức tranh) or adding layers to a surface (bồi lớp).
• In a more abstract sense, "bồi" can imply enhancing qualities or skills, like "bồi dưỡng" which means to nurture or cultivate (often used in the context of education or personal growth).

Word Variants

• Bồi dưỡng: To nourish or cultivate, often used in the context of education or training.
• Bồi bổ: To supplement or enrich, especially in terms of nutrition.

Synonyms

• For the noun meanings, you might find synonyms like "phục vụ" (to serve) or "người hầu" (servant).
• For the verb meanings, synonyms could include "củng cố" (to reinforce) or "tăng cường" (to strengthen).

Different Meanings

• Depending on the context, "bồi" can mean serving in a hospitality context or improving and reinforcing in an educational or construction context.

Conclusion

Understanding "bồi" requires attention to context.

Academic

noun

1. Waiter (khách sạn), man-servant (nhà riêng bọn thực dân), houseboy
   • bồi bàn
     a waiter
   • bồi phòng
     a hotel room boy

verb

1. To strengthen (by pasting on additional layers of the same material)
   • bồi bìa
     to strengthen a cover
   • bồi bức tranh
     to strengthen the back of a picture (with layers of paper pasted on it)
   • đắp đất bồi thêm chân đê
     to strengthen the foot of a dyke with earth
2. (nói về bùn cát trong nước sông hồ) To raise the level of, to extend the area of with one's deposit