nhàn cư vi bất thiện
if people have nothing better to do, they will look for trouble
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
nháo-nhác như gà lạc mẹ
Scattered as chicks that lost the hen — panic in every direction at once.
nhân lão tâm bất lão
The person ages; the heart does not — the calendar stops at the skin.
nhân nghĩa là chúa muôn đời Bạc tiền là khách qua chơi bấy giờ
Humanity and duty reign forever; silver and gold are guests just passing through — the visitor status of money.
nhân nào, quả nấy
Close to the English saying: “You reap what you sow.”.
nhân viên công nghệ thông tin
IT worker; IT staff member
nhân viên khuân hành lý
porter; luggage attendant
nhân định thắng thiên
Man's determination will conquer nature.
nhìn gà hoá cuốc
Mistaking a chicken for a moorhen — muddling two plainly different things; can't tell right from wrong.
nhìn muốn rụng trứng
A look to make your ovaries drop — swooning admiration, anatomically exaggerated.
nhìn xa trông rộng
Seeing far and looking wide — foresight that spots what others haven't yet imagined.
nhăn như khỉ
Grimacing like a monkey — a face folded into complaint.
nhĩ ngả vô thù
Between you and me, no debt — neither side owes the other a thing.
nhơn bất tri cổ kim, như mã ngưu nhi khâm cứ
Ignorant of past and present, a horse or ox in a robe — without learning, clothing is all that separates.
nhơn bất tri kỳ tử chi ác, bất tri kỳ miêu chi thạc
No parent knows their child's faults, no farmer his rice's height — doting blinds and greed never fills.
nhơn chi tương tử kì ngôn dã thiện, điểu chi tương tử kì minh dã ai
The dying speak kindly, the dying bird cries sorrowfully — at the end, all voices turn true.
nhơn các hữu chí
Each person their own ambition — every heart keeps its private compass.
nhơn cùng tắc biến, vật cực tác phản
Cornered people improvise, cornered things recoil — press anything to its limit and it turns.
nhơn khổ bất tự tri
Our common ailment: not knowing our own measure — self-ignorance, the one universal disease.
nhơn nhơn thành sự
Succeeding by other people's hands — accomplishment that waited to be led there.
nhơn sanh hữu tử như nhựt dạ chi đương nhiên
Death belongs to life as night to day — mortality as plainly natural as sundown.
nhơn sanh thất thập cổ lai hi
Seventy years — rare since antiquity — a long life is a gift, its end no cause for grievance.
nhơn tình khan lảnh noản, diện thượng trục cao đê
Feeling reads warm-and-cold; faces track high-and-low — affection recalibrated daily to your fortunes.
nhơn tử lưu danh, hổ tử lưu bì
A person dies leaving a name, a tiger leaving a skin — the classical form of the epitaph proverb.
nhơn vô thập toàn
No one is complete in all ten parts — perfection isn't a human size.
nhơn vô tín bất lập
Without trustworthiness, a person cannot stand — credit is the spine of standing.
nhơn vô viễn lự, tất hữu cận ưu
No far planning, near sorrow — the unprovided future moves in next door.
nhơn vị tài tử, điểu vị thực vong
People die for wealth, birds for food — each species undone by its own appetite.
như cá gặp nước
Perfectly in one’s element; thriving in exactly the right environment.
như dao chém đất
Holding fire up to burn heaven — insolence on a cosmic budget.
như nước đổ lá khoai
like water off a duck's back.
như nước đổ đầu vịt
like water off a duck's back.
như thuyền không lái
Like a boat without a rudder — motion entirely at the current's discretion.
như thủy ích thâm, như hỏa ích nhiệt
Like water deepening, like fire hotter — meddling that raises the flood and stokes the blaze.
như đấm bị bông
Like punching a cotton sack — force absorbed entirely; no reply, no result.
nhược thế cầu hòa
The weak sue for peace — treaties are what the losing side calls surrender.
nhạt như nước ốc
Bland as snail broth — flavor filed under rumor.
nhạt phấn phai hương
Powder faded, perfume flown — beauty past its season.
nhả ngọc phun châu
Spitting pearls and breathing gems — writing so fine each word drops like a jewel.
nhảy cao đá lẹ
High-jumping and quick-kicking — in full stride; talent at its most athletic hour.
nhất bản vạn lợi
One coin of capital, ten thousand of profit — the trader's New-Year blessing for a fat return.
nhất canh trì, nhị canh viên, tam canh điền
first cultivate the pond, second cultivate the garden, third cultivate the paddy
nhất con nhì cháu
First the child, then the grandchild — affection's fixed order of precedence.
nhất cử lưỡng tiện
to kill two birds with one stone
nhất cử nhất động
each and every move; every single action
nhất cự li, nhì tốc độ
first comes distance/proximity, second comes speed
nhất duyên, nhì phận, tam phong-thổ
First the match, second the lot, third the land you live on — fortune's ranked ingredients for a marriage.
nhất dáng nhì da thứ ba là tóc
First the figure, second the skin, third the hair — the folk ranking of beauty's assets.
nhất dáng, nhì da, thứ ba khuôn mặt
first a well-shaped figure, second smooth and clear skin, third a pretty face
nhất gái hơn hai, nhì trai hơn một
A husband who is two years older than the wife, or a wife one year older than the husband, is desirable.
nhất hô bá ứng
One call, a hundred answers — a leader whose word the whole body moves on.
nhất kiến như cựu thức
At first sight, like an old acquaintance — kinship recognized before introduction.
nhất nam viết hữu, thập nữ viết vô
one boy means one, ten girls mean none
nhất ngôn ký xuất, tứ mã nan truy
a word once spoken cannot be taken back; a promise must be kept; a promise is a promise
nhất nhật vi sư, chung thân vi phụ
He who teaches you, even for a day, should be regarded as your father for the rest of your life.
nhất nước, nhì phân, tam cần, tứ giống
in order of priority for successful culture, water, manure/fertilizer, hard work, cultivars
nhất quỉ nhì ma
First devils, second ghosts, third schoolboys — the ranking that crowns students the worst of the three.
nhất sĩ nhì nông, hết gạo chạy dông, nhất nông nhì sĩ
First the scholar, then the farmer — but when the rice runs out and you're running loose: first the farmer, then the scholar — rank revised by the granary.
nhất thả cá, nhì gá bạc
First, fish-trapping; second, hosting the gambling — the two quick fortunes, both wet.
nhất tiếu thiên kim
a beautiful woman's smile is extremely precious