Tiếng Việt · Word Attested

loay quay

[lwaj˧˧ kwaj˧˧] 🎙 Say it

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

(verb) to struggle and mess around and never be still

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

đấu tranh và lung tung không ngừng

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Verb

Where it’s used: Used Toàn quốc & hải ngoại · Vietnam-wide & diaspora

Examples

[…] nhưng đêm qua, ông già Sáu Đèo lại trợt chân. / Ông còn ngồi loay quay ngoi ngóp dưới sân bèo thì vừa lúc Phi về, anh hỏi, trời đất, làm gì ngồi đây.[…] but last night, Mr Sáu Đèo slipped again. / He was still sitting there, struggling and floundering in the duckweed-covered yard when Phi returned and asked, "Heaven and earth, why are you sitting here?"

Wiktionary example (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources & notes

Imported from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); community review pending. source ↗

Common questions

What does “loay quay” mean?

(verb) to struggle and mess around and never be still

Is “loay quay” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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