cái răng cái tóc là góc con người
teeth and head hair are part and parcel of a person's appearance; teeth and head hair are the most important when it comes to appearance;
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cái răng, cái tóc là gốc con người
Teeth and hair are the root of a person — grooming as the first chapter of character.
cái rốn của vũ trụ
the quality of being egocentric as a hypothetical center of the universe
cái sảy nảy cái ung
A prickly-heat spot grows into an abscess — a small fault neglected becomes a disaster.
cái tôm có chật gì sông, cái lông có chật gì lỗ
Does the shrimp crowd the river — small presences burden no one; there is room.
cám treo, để heo nhịn đói
Bran hung high while the pig goes hungry — provisions in plain sight, withheld.
cám ơn rất nhiều
thank you very much
cánh tay phải
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cánh tay, phải.
cáo chết ba năm quay đầu về núi
a person always longs for home
cáo chết quay đầu về núi
The dying fox turns its head toward its mountain — every creature's last thought is home.
cáo mượn oai hùm
to use powerful connections to intimidate people
cát nhơn thiên tướng
Heaven escorts the blessed — the fortunate travel under standing protection.
câm như cá
Mute as a fish — not saying a single word.
câm như hến
Mute as a mussel — clamped shut past all prying.
cân đong đo đếm
Weighing, measuring, counting every last bit — pettily calculating in all one's dealings.
câu lạc bộ chạy bộ
running club
cây cao bóng cả
A tall tree casts broad shade — the elder whose shelter covers everyone near.
cây cao thì gió càng lay, càng cao danh vọng càng đầy gian nan
The taller the tree, the harder the wind rocks it — the higher the fame, the fuller the hardship.
cây có cội nước có nguồn
A tree has its roots, water its source — no one exists without the ancestors behind them.
cây khô xuống nước cũng khô Phận nghèo đi đến nơi mô cũng nghèo
Dry wood stays dry even in water — a poor fate arrives poor wherever it travels.
cây không trồng không tiếc, con không đẻ không thương
Plant no tree and you'll grieve none; bear no child and you'll love none — care is the price and the proof of attachment.
cây muốn lăng, mà gió chẳng đừng
The tree would rest but the wind won't cease — peace is impossible while the other side keeps blowing.
cây quỳnh, cành giao
A quỳnh blossom on a giao branch — a matched pair of rare elegance; a young woman of delicate beauty.
cây vạy ghét mực tàu ngăy
Crooked timber hates the straight ink-line — the dishonest resent the rule that shows them bent.
cây đa cũ bến đò xưa
The old banyan, the old ferry landing — the places that sheltered you once, never to be forgotten.
cây độc không trái, gái độc không con
A venomous tree bears no fruit, a venomous woman no child — the old curse reading barrenness as malice.
cò chẳng tha ngao
The snipe won't release the clam — neither side yielding, both in the fisherman's basket soon.
còn cha gót đỏ như son, một mai cha thác, gót con như chì
While father lives the child's heels are rouge-red; when he dies they turn to lead — a parent's shelter is the child's shine.
còn người còn của
While the person lives, the wealth can return — courage, for goods lost are remakeable by living hands.
còn nước còn tát
(as long as) there's water left, it can be drained out
có ... không thì bảo
..., or else!; will you just ...!?
có bệnh thì vái tứ phương
if you're ill, bow to all four directions
có bột gột nên hồ
With flour, the paste can be worked — nothing is made without its makings.
có cha có mẹ có hơn, không cha không mẹ, như đờn đứt dây
Better with father and mother than without — an orphan is a lute with snapped strings.
có chí làm quan, có gan làm giàu
Close to the English saying: “Fortune favors the brave.”.
có chí thì nên
"If you are sufficiently determined to achieve something, then you will find a way of doing so.".
có chỗ đứng và cứng chỗ đó
A cheeky motto or toast for men built on nói lái: "có chỗ đứng" — to have a standing, a secure place in life — flips into "cứng chỗ đó" — to be hard in *that* spot. One breath wishes a man both career footing and bedroom vigor; famously delivered as a pageant answer about what the ideal 21st-century man should have, to the judges' horror.
có chửa có đẻ
Conceive and you will deliver — some conditions only grow more visible; nothing stays hidden that grows.
có con nhờ con, có của nhờ của
With children, lean on children; with wealth, lean on wealth — each support serves the age that has it.
có cây dây mới leo
The vine climbs because the tree is there — every effect had its trellis; opportunity invites the climb.
có còn hơn không
Close to the English saying: “Something is better than nothing.”.
có công mài sắt, có ngày nên kim
Persistent effort will eventually succeed — keep grinding and the goal will be reached.
có cốt có vác
Take up the frame, carry the load — once begun, obliged to the finish.
có giăng phụ đèn
With moonlight, who minds the lamp — the new attachment eclipsing the faithful old one.
có gì đâu
nothing, nothing important
có học thì mới biết, có đi thì mới đến
Study to know, travel to arrive — the mind's two journeys, each requiring departure.
có khó mới có nên
No hardship, no achievement — mastery is bought with difficulty.
có khế ế chanh
Selling starfruit, talking down the lemons — every peddler dispraises the rival's basket.
có mới nới cũ
To neglect or abandon the old (friend, partner, possession) as soon as something new arrives.
có mợ thì chợ cũng đông, không mợ thì chợ cũng không không bữa nào
With the mistress the market thrives; without her it still meets daily — no one is as indispensable as they think.
có nanh có mỏ
Face to face and brow to brow — settled openly, with both parties present.
có nuôi con mới biết lòng cha mẹ
Only in raising children do you learn your parents' hearts — the debt is legible only from the paying side.
có nước thì có cá
Where there's water, there are fish — the pair never parts; one condition brings its companion.
có nước đồng nước sông mới dẫy
The river only floods where the fields already hold water — big gains grow from big capital; children rise on parents' roots.
có nếp có tẻ
Some sticky rice, some plain — children of both kinds; a family blessed with sons and daughters.
có phước có phần
Blessed means portioned — what fate allots arrives of itself.
có phước làm quan có gan làm giàu
Luck makes the mandarin, nerve makes the rich man — office is fortune's gift; wealth is courage's.
có phước tảng tài, vô phước tảng mạng
The blessed shed only money; the unblessed shed their life — survival itself is the good fortune.
có qua có lại
Give and take — a favor answered with a favor; reciprocity in kind.
có quyền thì có duyên
Power comes with charm attached — office lends its holder a strange attractiveness.