y cẩm dạ hành
Brocade worn walking at night — glory paraded where no eye can price it.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
y cẩm hồi hương
Returning home in brocade — coming back to one's village crowned with success.
y dã ý dã
Medicine is intention — the physician's charter to adapt, never to practice by rote.
y dạng họa hồ lô
Painting the gourd from the model — imitation tracing the outline it was given.
y năng sát nhơn, dược năng cứu nhơn
Doctors can kill as medicine can save — the drug heaven made, the hand can still misuse.
yang lake
Yang lake — bilingual pun on 'giang hồ' (yang ~ giang, lake ~ hồ): a wannabe gangster, said with a smirk.
ykr
Texting shortcut for “ý kiến riêng” — just my personal opinion (IMO).
yêu ai thì bốc lên giời, ghét ai thì dìm xuống đất
Loved, hoisted to heaven; hated, pressed into the earth — appraisal by affection, calibrated in altitude.
yêu cho đòn, ghét cho ăn
Love gives the rod, hate gives the treats — the old inversion: discipline is care, indulgence is neglect.
yêu hoa vin cành
Loving the flower, grip its branch — affection that takes hold of what holds the beloved.
yêu nhau cau bảy bổ ba, ghét nhau cau sáu bổ ra làm mười
In love, seven arecas split into three; in hate, six split into ten — generosity and spite, measured in betel.
yêu nhau chị em gái, rái nhau chị em dâu
Sisters love; sisters-in-law bristle — the same house, two chemistries.
yêu nhau cởi áo trao nhau, về nhà mẹ hỏi, qua cầu gió bay
In love we swapped shirts — home, mother asks: crossing the bridge, the wind took it — the beloved lie of young lovers.
yêu nhau củ ấu cũng tròn, ghét nhau thì củ bồ hòn cũng vuông
In love the spiny caltrop is round; in hate the soap-nut is square — affection redraws geometry itself.
yêu nhau lắm cắn nhau đau
The deeper the love, the sharper the bite — passion keeps teeth.
yêu nhau mấy núi cũng trèo, mấy sông cũng lội, mấy đèo cũng qua
In love, any mountain can be climbed, any river forded, any pass crossed — the anthem of determined lovers.
yêu nhau yêu cả đường đi, ghét nhau ghét cả tông chi họ hàng
Love someone and you love their very road; hate someone and you hate their whole clan — feeling annexes everything adjacent.
yêu nhiều thì ốm, ôm nhiều thì yếu
love a lot and you will get sick, hug a lot and you will get weak (alluding to STD and impotence due to overindulgence)
yêu nên tốt, ghét nên xấu
Loved, all virtues; hated, all faults — affection edits the evidence.
yêu trẻ trẻ đến nhà
Love children and children fill your house — affection is the best-attended address.
yến tước khởi tri hồng hộc chí
Do swallows and sparrows know the swan's ambition — small wings can't read a great bird's flight plan.
yếu như sên
Weak as a snail — strength in homeopathic doses.
yểu điệu thục nữ
A graceful, gentle maiden — demure elegance in the classical mold.
ý hạp tâm đầu
Minds meeting and hearts agreeing — perfectly matched in temper and intent.
ý nhạc tâm tình
Music's thought, heart's feeling — melody and emotion moving as one.
ỷ thế ỷ thần
Leaning on power, leaning on spirits — patronage temporal or supernatural, so long as it's someone else's strength.
ỷm cựu nghinh tân
Tiring of the old to greet the new — appetite's endless trade-in.
yêu con chị, vị con em
Love your sister's child as your own
yêu hoa nên phải vin cành
Be prepared for difficulties when pursuing something desirable
Yêu nhau cau bảy bổ ba
Love each other despite disagreements
Yêu nhau cởi áo trao nhau
To give one's most precious thing to the one they love
Yêu nhau củ ấu cũng tròn
Lovers can overcome differences
Yêu nhau mấy núi cũng trèo
Love can overcome any obstacle
yêu nhau nên tốt, ghét nhau nên xấu
Be good to those you love, be bad to those you hate
Yêu nhau yêu cả đường đi
To love someone is to love everything about them
yêu thầm nhớ vụng
Secretly loving someone but awkwardly expressing it
yếu chân mềm tay
Lacking strength or courage
yếu tha già thải
Discard the old and weak
yếu trâu bằng khoẻ bò
A weak person can be as useful as a strong one