hữu thế bất khả ỷ tận
Never lean your whole weight on power — nor spend your whole stock of luck; keep reserves of both.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
hữu xạ tự nhiên hương
"A good product does not need advertising.".
hỷ mũi chưa sạch
Nose not yet wiped clean — maturity claimed several years early.
idol tóp tóp
A "TikTok idol" — said with a smirk: famous on tóp tóp (the Vietnamese phonetic spelling of TikTok), and often only there.
im lặng là vàng
Staying silent is often the wisest, most valuable choice.
im lặng tức là đồng ý
Silence gives consent.
inh tai nhức óc
discordant and intolerable
j z tr
Texting abbreviation of "gì vậy trời" — "what on earth?!", an exclamation of disbelief.
khai khẩu như phá thạch
A mouth opening like stone splitting — words that land with a mason's finality.
khai môn ấp đạo
Opening the gate and bowing in the burglar — courtesy extended to one's own ruin.
khai quyển hữu ích
Opening any book profits — every volume keeps at least one useful line.
khai trương hồng phát
have a grand opening (used in congratulatory and celebratory settings)
khen Phò-mã tốt áo
Praising the Prince Consort's fine coat — flattery aimed where flattery is redundant.
khi kiến ăn cá, khi cá ăn kiến
Now the ant eats the fish, now the fish eats the ant — fortunes rotate even between the great and the tiny.
khi lành cho nhau ăn cháy, khi dữ mắng nhau cạy nồi
Fond, they share the crust; furious, they curse over the scrapings — affection swinging pot-to-pot.
khi lành quạt giấy cũng cho, khi dữ quạt mo cũng đòi
In favor, gifted the paper fan; out of favor, even the palm fan reclaimed — generosity with a repossession clause.
khi sư diệt tổ
Deceiving the master and effacing the founder — betraying one's own teacher and school.
khi và chỉ khi
when and only when
khinh nặc quả tín
Quick to promise, scarce to keep — the easy yes weighs least.
khinh sĩ mắc sĩ
Slight a scholar and be schooled by one — the shabby stranger may out-think you yet.
khoai vò mình củ
The yam polishing its own tuber — self-praise, root and skin.
khoan đã
"Wait — hold everything" — the full-stop interjection when something needs re-checking before anyone moves.
khoang tắc đắc chúng
Generosity gathers the crowd — largeness of measure is what people rally to.
khom lưng uốn gối
Bowed back and bent knee — cringing servility before the powerful.
khoẻ như voi
very healthy and strong
khoẻ như vâm
as fit as a fiddle
khu bảo tồn thiên nhiên
nature reserve
khu mấn
Nghệ An–Hà Tĩnh for "worthless, no good at all" — literally the seat of the coarse black skirts local women wore in the 1960s–70s; "đẹp cái khu mấn!" ≈ "pretty, my foot!".
khu nhà vệ sinh và phòng tắm
toilet and shower block
khuynh cái hạ mã
Tilting the parasol and dismounting — the full courtesies paid to someone deeply respected.
khuynh gia bại sản
to lose all of one’s assets, wealth, and housing; to go pear-shaped
khuê phụ oán
The chamber wife's lament — a woman aching for her absent husband.
khác máu tanh lòng
Different blood breeds fishy hearts.
khách tới nhà chẳng gà thì vịt
A guest at the door — if not chicken, then duck — hospitality that always finds something for the pot.
khát nước
(noun) chestnut-winged cuckoo (Clamator coromandus)
khát nước quá
"So thirsty" — Vietnam's heat writes this line daily; the vocabulary of ordering the drink comes right after it.
khéo làm tôi vụng
The skillful end up serving the clumsy — cleverness earns the work, dullness the rest.
khê hác chi tâm
A heart like a ravine — greed no filling ever levels.
khó có nhau hơn giàu một mình
Poor together beats rich alone — company is the wealth that counts.
khó giữ đầu, giầu giữ của
The poor guard their heads, the rich their goods — each defends the only thing they have.
khó muốn giầu, đau muốn đã
The poor want wealth, the sick want health — desire is always for the missing thing.
khó mới có mà ăn, ngồi không ai dễ đem phần tới cho
Only the hard-up have food — no one delivers portions to the idle; want is what gets people working.
khó nằm giữa chợ chẳng ai han, giàu ở lâm san, ghe kẻ tìm tới
Poor in the market's middle, unasked-after; rich in the deep forest, sought by boats — money, not distance, decides your visitors.
khó sạch rách thơm
Poor but clean, ragged but fragrant — integrity kept laundered whatever the wardrobe.
khó đỡ
Impossible to parry — behavior or situations so absurd there is no graceful response; you just take the hit.
khóc hổ ngươi, cười ra nước mắt
Ashamed to weep, laughing out tears — caught where neither face will fit.
khóc nhè chè thiu
Whimpering over stale tea — sulky crying over nothing worth the tears.
khô cả cổ
Talked till the throat runs dry — pleading at length to ears that never open.
khô như con mắm
Dry as salted fish — desiccated; a person or prose with all the juice cured out.
khôn ba năm, dại một giờ
Even smart people can have a momentary lapse in judgement. / Even Homer sometimes nods.
khôn cho người ta giái, dại cho người ta thương
Be clever enough to be feared, or artless enough to be loved — only the in-between draws hate.
khôn chẳng qua nhẽ, khoẻ chẳng qua nhời
Cleverness yields to reason, strength to words — argument outranks both wit and muscle.
khôn một người một léo, khéo một người một ý
Each clever head its own trick, each skilled hand its own way — mastery never comes in one pattern.
khôn ngoan chẳng bằng thật thà
Cunning is no match for honesty — the straight measure outlasts every crooked one.
khôn ngoan chẳng lọ là nhiều Người khôn mới nói nửa điều đã khôn
Wisdom isn't measured by volume — the wise show wise in half a sentence.
khôn ngoan chẻ vỏ
Armed with fangs and beak — equipped to bite back; not to be handled bare.
khôn ngoan giữa đám ba bề, chớ cho ai lận chớ hề lận ai
Sharp on every side of the market — neither cheated nor cheating: that is the whole of commercial wisdom.
khôn ngoan đối đáp người ngoài Gà cùng một mẹ chớ hoài đá nhau
Be clever answering outsiders — chicks of one mother must never spar with each other — solidarity begins in the coop.
khôn nhà dại chợ
clever at home but foolish out on the street; a smart aleck among family but timid among strangers
khôn thuở nên ba, dại cho đến già còn dại
Wise by three or foolish to the grave — native wit shows in the cradle; only study amends it.
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