ăn mày quen ngõ
The beggar knows the lane — habit wears its own path to the same door.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
ăn mày đòi sôi-gấc, ăn chực đòi bánh-chưng
The beggar demanding gấc-red sticky rice, the freeloader demanding bánh chưng — dependency with a tasting menu.
ăn mắm ngắm về sau
Eat fish-paste, expect the thirst after — pleasures bill their sequel.
ăn mặn nói ngay
Eat salty and speak straight — better plain-living honesty than fasting hypocrisy.
ăn như gấu ăn giăng
Eating like the bear eating the moon — devouring on a mythological scale.
ăn nhờ ở đậu
to live in someone else's house and rely on them for food and shelter
ăn no sanh sự
A full belly breeds mischief — comfort is where trouble learns to walk.
ăn nên làm ra
to bring benefits; to be profitable
ăn nói xà lơ
Talking nonsense; saying something totally off — “xà lơ” is a playful take on “sai lơ” (dead wrong).
ăn quen, nhịn không quen
Indulgence comes easy; abstaining doesn't — appetites train faster than restraint ever will.
ăn quả bỏ hột
Eat the fruit, toss the seed — enjoyment that discards its own next harvest.
ăn sẻ sẻ đẻ ông voi
Eat like a sparrow, lose like an elephant — the gambler's diet: tiny wins, giant losses.
ăn sống nuốt tươi
Eaten raw and swallowed live — consumed without ceremony; overwhelmed in one bite.
ăn theo thuở, ở theo thì
Eat by the season, live by the times — bend your habits to the hour you're given.
ăn thì cho, buôn thì so
Food is given freely; goods are haggled — meals escape arithmetic, trade never does.
ăn thì hơn, hờn thì thiệt
Eating gains, sulking loses — storm off and you forfeit your share.
ăn thì vóc, học thì hay
Food builds the frame, study builds the mind — nourishment shows in the body, learning in the wit.
ăn thùng uống vại
to eat and drink excessively or gluttonously; to have a massive appetite
ăn to nói lớn
to be straightforward, bold, and decisive in one's conduct and speech
ăn trước trả sau
Eat first, pay after — enjoying now what must be settled later.
ăn trầu cách mắt
Betel passed over one guest — the gift that skips an eye makes an enemy of it.
ăn trầu gẫm
Chewing betel in thought — turning the world over slowly, quid in cheek.
ăn trắng mặc trơn
to live a life of leisure, comfort, and wealth
ăn trộm có tang, chơi ngang có tích
Theft leaves evidence, mischief leaves a record — wrongdoing files its own paperwork.
ăn trộm quen tay, ngủ ngày quen mắt
Thieving trains the hand as day-sleep trains the eye — practice a vice and it becomes your nature.
ăn tàn phá hại
to be extremely destructive and wasteful; to consume resources without contributing anything
ăn tấm trả giặt
Eat broken rice, repay whole grains — borrow small and repay large, as gambling debts go.
ăn tục nói phét
to habitually use foul language and tell tall tales or lies
ăn vỏ dưa, thấy vỏ dừa mà sợ
Slipped on a melon rind, now afraid of coconut husks — one fall, and every peel looks lethal.
ăn xôi chùa ngọng miệng
Temple sticky-rice ties the tongue — accept a benefactor's food and your honest opinions choke.
ăn xổi
to eat food (usually vegetables) that has been pickled or prepared for immediate consumption
ăn xổi ở thì
short-sighted, lacking foresight; temporary, makeshift
ăn ốc nói mò
To eat snails and talk by groping — to make baseless guesses; to speak without knowing the facts.
ăn ở xởi lởi ông trời gởi cho
Live open-handed and heaven keeps you stocked — generosity is a supply line, not a leak.
Đen tình, đỏ bạc
Lucky at cards, unlucky in love.
Đi một ngày đàng, học một sàng khôn
Travelling forms a young man.
Đi với bụt mặc áo cà sa, đi với ma mặc áo giấy
Pay a man back in the same coin.
Điếc không sợ súng
He that knows nothing doubts nothing.
Đoàn kết thì sống, chia rẽ thì chết
English equivalentː United we stand, divided we fall.
Đánh chết cái nết cũng không chừa
Close to the English saying: “Old habits die hard.”.
Đây là ... của tôi
This is my ...
Đây là những ... của tôi
These are my ...
Đã trót thì phải trét
If you sell the cow, you will sell her milk too.
Đèn nhà ai nấy sáng
Half the world not know how the other half lives.
Đông Lào
A tongue-in-cheek internet name for Việt Nam itself — literally "East Laos" — used to discuss domestic affairs with plausible deniability, or simply as satire.
Đầu xuôi đuôi lọt
"Starting properly ensures the speedy completion of a process. A – beginning is often blocked by one or more obstacles (potential barriers) the removal of which may ensure the smooth course of the process.".
Đồng thanh tương ứng, đồng khí tương cầu. Ngưu tầm ngưu, mã tầm mã
Similar people often become friends.
Đồng ý!
I agree! / Okay!
Đời cha ăn mặn, đời con khát nước
When the father's generation eats salt, the child's generation thirsts for water.
Đừng chế nhạo người
Laugh and the world will laugh with you.
Đừng xét đoán người qua bề ngoài
Do not judge the book by its cover.
đa hư bất như thiểu thiệt
Much hollow is less than a little solid — one true handful beats a cartload of froth.
đa sự đa lự
Many affairs, many anxieties — every undertaking enlists its own worry.
đa tài lụy thân
Much wealth wearies its owner — property is luggage; the rich travel heaviest.
đa đa ích thiện
The more, the better — abundance as its own argument; said of what improves by quantity.
đanh đá cá cầy
Sharp-tongued as a trapped dog — shrewish, snapping, giving no quarter.
đao kiếm tuy lợi bất sát vô tội chi nhơn
The blade, however sharp, spares the innocent — even weapons are held to law.
đao to búa lớn
exaggerative; braggy
đau chóng đã chày
Quick to hurt, slow to heal — damage keeps a sprinter's pace, recovery a pilgrim's.
đau chơn há miệng
An aching leg opens the mouth — press hard enough and confession comes, true or not.
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