dm
Vulgar expletive initialism (đ* má) — “damn it / f—”. Extremely common online as pure exclamation; still an obscenity.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
dth
Texting shortcut for “dễ thương” — cute, adorable.
du thủ du thực
Idle hands, drifting mouth — living loose on play and scrounged meals.
duyên ai nấy gặp
Each meets the match fate kept — marriages arrive by their own appointment.
duyên cầm sắt
The lute-and-zither bond — a marriage in true harmony.
duyên sắt cầm
The zither-and-lute bond — a couple in close, harmonious love.
duyện mộc cầu ngư
Climbing a tree to catch fish — seeking where the sought has never lived.
dài lưng tốn vải
a long back wastes cloth
dày ăn mỏng làm
Thick at eating, thin at working — greedy at the table, lazy at the task.
dân dĩ thực vi tiên
To the people, food comes first — a state that would keep its people must first keep them fed.
dân dữ dân tề
The people stand level with the people — under the law all heads are black and all blood red.
dân như gỗ tròn
The people are round timber — rolled whichever way the roller pleases; a ruler's cynical geometry.
dân trời đất
A heaven-and-earth character — reckless past persuading, answerable to sky alone.
dâu dữ mất họ
A cruel daughter-in-law loses the clan — one harsh bride and the family scatters.
dâu hiền hơn con gái, rể hiền hơn con giai
A kind daughter-in-law beats a daughter; a kind son-in-law beats a son — goodness upgrades the in-law past the blood.
dâu hiền là gái, rể thảo là trai
A gentle daughter-in-law is a daughter; a devoted son-in-law is a son — kindness makes the in-law kin.
dâu là con, rể là khách
The daughter-in-law is a daughter; the son-in-law is a guest — the asymmetry of in-law belonging.
dây dùi khó dứt
A cord stretched taut is soonest snapped — gentleness lasts; rigidity breaks.
dây mơ rễ má
distant blood tie
dã tràng se cát biển đông, nhọc nhằn mà chẳng nên công cán gì
The sand-crab rolls its pellets in the eastern sea — endless toil, and not one grain of credit to keep.
dì ruột thương cháu như con Rủi mà không mẹ cháu còn cậy trông vào ai
A mother's sister loves the child as her own — should the mother be lost, on whom else would the child lean.
dín gió e sương
Shrinking from wind, shy of dew — the sheltered timidity of a classical maiden.
dính như sơn
Mushy as fermented rice-mash — dissolved past shape.
dò sông dò biển còn dò, nào ai bẻ thước mà đo lòng người
Rivers and seas can be sounded, but who breaks off a ruler for the human heart — the one depth without a gauge.
dòng nào sanh giống ấy
Each line breeds its own kind — tiger fathers, tiger sons.
dòng-dòng theo nạ
Fry trailing their mother — the small following the parent fin to fin.
dõng bất quá thiên, cường bất quá lý
Force stops short of heaven, stubbornness short of reason — neither might nor obstinacy outlasts what's right.
dù ai nói ngả nói nghiêng, lòng ta vẫn vững như kiềng ba chân
Let them talk crooked or slanted — my heart stands firm as a three-legged trivet — constancy that gossip cannot tip.
dù ai đi ngược về xuôi Nhớ ngày giỗ tổ mùng mười tháng ba
Wherever you travel, up-country or down, remember the Ancestor Festival on the tenth of the third month — the Hùng Kings' day binding all Vietnamese.
dù ai đi ngược về xuôi, cơm nắm lá cọ là người sông Thao
Upstream or down, the rice-ball wrapped in cọ leaf marks the Sông Thao native — identity carried in a packed lunch.
dùi đánh đục, đục đánh săng
The mallet drives the chisel, the chisel bites the timber — work passed link by link down the line until it lands.
dăm bữa nửa tháng
soonish; in the coming days
dĩ hoà vi quý
Making peace is treasured.
dĩ hòa vi quới
Take harmony as the treasure — concord above winning, in every shared roof and market.
dĩ nông vi bổn
Take farming as the foundation — of the four estates, the plow feeds the other three.
dĩ đào vi thượng sách
Flight is the best of the thirty-six stratagems — when all plans fail, the one that saves you is leaving.
dĩ độc trị độc
"The best way to deal with an opponent is to fight back with similair weapons or tactics.".
dũ thiện nhơn giao như nhập chi lan chi thất, dữ ác nhơn giao như nhập bào ngư chi tứ
Keep good company and you lodge among orchids; keep bad and you lodge in the fish-stall — one leaves you scented, the other reeking.
dũ xu dũ hạ
The faster the run, the steeper the fall — decline accelerating on its own slope.
dưa La, cà Láng, cải Báng, tương Bần
La's pickled melon, Láng's eggplant, Báng's mustard greens, Bần's soybean sauce — the north's four famous tastes, each with its village.
dương chất hổ bì
A goat's marrow in a tiger's hide — the fearsome skin forgets the timid bones inside it.
dương thuận âm vi
Compliant in the light, contrary in the dark — a smooth face over a stubborn interior.
dương trình hiệu lực
Serving abroad to redeem one's fault — sent on a hard mission to earn back lost standing.
dương vây dương càng
Flaring fins and spreading claws — puffing oneself up to overawe others.
dưỡng hổ di hoạn
Rearing the tiger, storing the sorrow — kindness invested in the vicious matures into harm.
dưỡng lão khất ngôn
Keep the old and beg their words — board an elder and you board a lifetime's judgment.
dạ cá lòng chim
A fish's stomach and a bird's heart — appetite below, flightiness above; nothing to hold onto.
dạ, cảm ơn
Yes, please.
dạo này thế nào?
How’s it going lately?
dạy con dạy thuở còn thơ, dạy vợ dạy thuở ban sơ mới về
Teach a child in the cradle and a wife on arrival — habits set at the threshold or never.
dạy con từ thuở còn thơ, dạy vợ từ thuở bơ vơ mới về
Teach a child in its infancy, a wife in her bewildered first days — guidance belongs at beginnings.
dạy khỉ trèo cây
Teaching the monkey to climb — instruction the pupil was born past needing.
dấu hoa vun cây
Loving the flower, mound the tree — cherish the bloom by feeding its root; honor children by honoring their makers.
dấu kim tay áo
A needle hidden in the sleeve — malice carried in the softest fabric.
dầu hèn cũng ngựa nhà quan, kiều khấu rách nát, hồng nhan hãy còn
However shabby, still the mandarin's horse — harness in tatters, the fine head remains; breeding survives its bad luck.
dẫn xà nhập huyết
Leading the snake into the burrow — showing the villain the vein; treachery by guided tour.
dẫu rằng da trắng tóc mây Đẹp thì đẹp vậy, dạ này không ưa Vợ ta dù có quê mùa Thì ta vẫn cứ sớm trưa vui cùng
White-skinned and cloud-haired she may be — lovely, but not for this heart; my wife is country-plain, and morning to noon I am glad beside her.
dật gấu vá vai
Tear the hem to patch the shoulder — repairs that only move the hole.
dằn túi
to save some money just in case one may need it.
dể được, dể mất
"Things that are easily acquired, especially money, are just as easily lost or spent.".