trách người quân tử vô danh, chơi hoa xong lại bẻ cành bán rao
Blame the nameless 'gentleman' — done with the flower, he breaks the branch and hawks it — the seducer's full itinerary.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
trái gió trở trời
When the wind crosses and the sky turns — the aches of changing weather; moods that turn with it.
trái tính trái nết
Cross-grained in temper and habit — a nature that rubs everyone the wrong way.
tránh voi chẳng sợ xấu mặt
Yielding to the elephant shames no one's face — stepping aside from the overwhelming is sense, not cowardice.
tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa
away from the watermelon rind, into the coconut shell
trân cầm dị thú
Rare birds and strange beasts — exotic treasures of the menagerie.
trâu buộc ghét trâu ăn
The chained water buffalo hates the water buffalo that grazes.
trâu béo kéo trâu gầy
The fat buffalo hauls for the thin — strength's duty to carry what weakness can't.
trâu bò húc nhau, ruồi muỗi chết
When the strong-willed members of a group butt heads, the bystanders suffer.
trâu chốc cật thấy ác bay qua liền né
The sore-backed buffalo shies at every passing crow — a wound installs its own lookout.
trâu cày, ngựa cỡi
Buffaloes plow, horses are ridden — each creature issued its own employment at birth.
trâu già gặm cỏ non
robbing the cradle
trâu ho bằng bò rống
A buffalo's cough equals an ox's bellow — the great man's smallest ailment outweighs the small man's crisis.
trâu sống không ai mà cả, trâu ngã nhiều kẽ cầm dao
No offers while the buffalo lives; a dozen knives when it falls — vultures respect only the moment of collapse.
trâu tìm cột, cột chẳng tìm trâu
The buffalo seeks the post, never the post the buffalo — the dependent goes to the anchor: servant to master, child to parent.
trâu đạp củng chết voi đạp củng chết
Trampled by buffalo or elephant, dead either way — the gambler's shrug: if losing, lose big.
trâu đồng nào ăn cỏ đồng nấy
Each field's buffalo grazes its own field — marry in the village, and let no outsider's beast in.
trèo cao té đau
the bigger they are, the harder they fall
trèo cao, té đàu
Slip-ups becomes more consequential, the more influence you have.
trên bảo, dưới không nghe
to impotent, unable to achieve or sustain an erection, having impotentia coeundi
trên kính dưới nhường
Respect upward, yield downward — the well-ordered household's two directions of courtesy.
trên par hoặc dưới par
over or under par
trên thuận dưới hoà
Harmony above, concord below — the whole hierarchy at peace.
trêu cò cò mổ mắt
Tease the stork and it pecks your eye — bait the patient bird at your own risk.
trí dục viên, nhi hạnh dục phương
Mind rounded, conduct squared — thought should turn freely; behavior should keep corners.
trí giả sở kiến lược đồng
The wise see roughly alike — climb high enough and every summit shows one view.
trí giả thiên lực tất hữu nhứt thất, ngu giả thiên lực tất hữu nhứt đắc
The wise err once in a thousand thoughts; the fool scores once — humility for one, hope for the other; even a madman's word is worth the sages' sifting.
trí quá tắc cải
A fault understood and corrected is cancelled; understood and kept, it doubles.
tròn vành rõ chữ
Round of rim, clear of letters — enunciation polished until every word stands whole.
trôi sông lạc chợ
Drifted downriver, strayed through markets — the unhoused and unregistered, current-borne.
trôn
Trôn — Vietnamized 'troll': to wind someone up online for laughs.
trông lên thì chẳng bằng ai, trông xuống thì cũng chẳng ai bằng mình
Looking up, I am no one's equal; looking down, no one is my equal either.
trông mặt mà bắt hình-dung
Reading the face to sketch the character — judgment drawn from a glance at the features.
trúc xinh trúc mọc đầu đình, em xinh em đứng một mình cũng xinh
Lovely the bamboo at the đình's gate — and you, lovely standing all alone, are lovely still — beauty that needs no company.
trúng bịnh vi diệu
Whatever hits the disease is the miracle — medicine ranks by cure, not pedigree.
trúng gió một bên tai
Wind-struck in one ear — half-listening; whatever enters one ear never lands.
trăm dâu đổ đầu tằm
A hundred mulberry loads dumped on one silkworm's head — every blame in the house lands on the lowest back.
trăm hay chẳng bằng tay quen
A hundred clevernesses are less than one practiced hand — theory loses to calluses.
trăm nghe không bằng mắt thấy
a picture is worth a thousand words; seeing is believing
trăm nghe không bằng một thấy
Hearing about something a hundred times is not worth seeing it once — direct experience beats hearsay.
trăm năm bia đá thì mòn, ngàn năm bia miệng vẫn còn trơ trơ
A hundred years wear down the stone stele; a thousand years, and the stele of mouths still stands — reputation outlasts granite.
trăm năm giữ vẹn chữ tòng Sông sao thác vậy một chồng mà thôi
A hundred years keeping the word 'follow' whole — as the river runs, so its falls: one husband, no more.
trăm năm đành lỗi hẹn hò, cây đa bến cũ, con đò khác đưa
A hundred years, the vow is broken — the old banyan and the same wharf, but a different ferry carries her now — love's landmarks outliving love.
trăm sông đổ về bể
A hundred rivers pour into one sea — all currents find the same great water.
trăm trận trăm thắng
"Fight a hundred battles, win all those hundred"; to win every fight; to be ever-victorious
trăng hoa gối mộng
Moonflowers on the dream-pillow — lovers lingering in each other's sleep.
trăng mờ còn tỏ hơn sao Dẫu rằng núi lỡ còn cao hơn đồi
The dimmed moon still outshines the stars; the landslid mountain still stands above the hill — diminished greatness is greatness still.
trơn như mỡ
Slick as lard — slipperiness, physical or moral.
trước lạ sau quen
Strangers first, friends after — awkward at the first meeting, easy by the third.
trước sau như một
before and after, one and the same
trường sinh bất lão
Long life without aging — the elixir-dream of staying forever young.
trạch đẻ ngọn đa
A loach spawning atop the banyan — something that will never, ever happen.
trảm thảo trừ căn
Cut the grass, remove the root — extermination that leaves a fiber leaves a spring regrowth.
trầm hương kỳ duyên
The strange affinity of aloeswood — wealth breeds ceremony; riches conjure their own rituals.
trầm ngư lạc nhạn
Beauty that sinks fish and drops wild geese — loveliness the animals themselves concede.
trầm thuyền phá phủ
Sink the boats, smash the pots — the general's arithmetic: no retreat, therefore victory.
trần gian còn sót lại con ma nhà họ Hứa
The Hứa family ghost still walks the earth — a wry reminder that an old promise hasn't been forgotten.
trắng như bông
White as cotton — spotless, snowy.
trắng như trứng gà bóc
White as a peeled egg — skin of proverbial fairness.
trẻ cậy cha, già cậy con
Young, lean on father; old, lean on children — the lifecycle of dependence, both directions honored.