vịt nghe xấm
A duck hearing thunder — sound in, meaning nowhere.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
vỏ quít dầy móng tay nhọn
A thick orange rind meets a sharp fingernail — every defense eventually meets its matching attack.
vỏ quýt dày có móng tay nhọn
it doesn't matter how smart or cunning you are, there's always someone else better to take you down
vợ chết thật vợ mình
Only the wife who dies yours was truly yours — die first, and wife, wealth and fields all take new owners.
vợ chồng là nghĩa cả đời Ai ơi nhớ nghĩ những lời thiệt hơn
Husband and wife are a whole life's bond — weigh every word of it, the losses with the gains.
vợ chồng như áo bận vào cỗi ra
Spouses are garments, put on and taken off — brothers are limbs, and limbs don't unbutton.
vợ cái con cột, vợ lẽ con thêm
The first wife is the main pillar; the lesser wife, an added post — the old house's blunt architecture of marriage.
vợ khôn dạy chồng dại
A wise wife schooling a foolish husband — a marriage pulling at mismatched strengths.
vợ kén tông, chồng kén giống
A wife chosen by her line, a husband by his stock — marriage vetted at the pedigree.
vợ lẽ con thêm
A minor wife and an extra child — burdens multiplied by one's own entanglements.
vợ thằng đậu
Đậu's wife — a byword for hopeless clumsiness around the house.
vợ xứ Đông, chồng xứ Bắc
A wife from the East country, a husband from the North — folk geography's ideal match.
vụng chèo khéo chống
A poor workman blames his tools.
vừa ăn cướp vừa la làng
to burglarize while crying for help
vừa đánh trống vừa ăn cướp
to beat the drum (as in, sound the burglar alarm) while burglarizing
Vỹ Sinh ôm cây
Vỹ Sinh clasping the pillar — keeping a promise to the death, drowned at the trysting post.
xa mặt cách lòng
Absence weakens affection — when people no longer see each other, their hearts drift apart.
xa mỏi chân gần mỏi miệng
Far kin tire the feet, near kin tire the mouth — distance costs visits; proximity costs words.
xa tải đấu lương
Carted and measured by the bushel — the mediocre come in bulk; excellence is counted by the piece.
xa xa Côn Đảo nhà tù,
Far off lies Côn Đảo the prison isle — the exile's landmark, sung at a distance no boat wants to close.
xa xôi em chớ ngại ngùng, xa người, xa tiếng nhưng lòng không xa
Don't fear the distance — far from the person, far from the voice, but the heart has not moved.
xanh râu là chúa, bạc đầu là tôi
Green beards rule, white heads serve — rank outranks age, however the elders grumble.
xe dây buộc mình
Spinning the rope that binds oneself — complications hand-braided at home.
xem tivi hoặc xem phim
watching TV or films
xem việc biết người
Close to the English saying: “A workman is known by his chips.”.
xin phép
The polite "with your permission" — announced before leaving a meal, entering a room, or interrupting elders; Vietnamese courtesy in two syllables.
xl
Texting shortcut for “xin lỗi” — sorry.
xong phim
the movie has ended
xong rồi
"Done / finished / all set" — the two syllables that close a meal, a job, a haircut; rising-context "Xong chưa?" asks, "Xong rồi" answers.
xu cà na
Unlucky; doomed-day energy — “xu” from xui (unlucky) plus a fruity flourish.
xui nguyên giục bị
Egging on the plaintiff and goading the defendant — stirring both sides of a quarrel for one's own profit.
xuân bất tái lai
Spring does not come twice — the one green season is the one you're in.
xuất dương hiệu lực
Overseas service to redeem one's name — a fault worked off on a foreign mission.
xuất giá tòng phu
Married, she follows the husband — the middle clause of the old three-followings code.
xuất hồ nhỉ, phản hồ nhỉ
What leaves by your hand returns by your hand — issue and repayment share an address.
xuống hố
synonym of xuống lỗ (“to die”)
xuống thác lên ghềnh
Down the falls, up the rapids — a course of nothing but hard water.
xà lơ
Talking nonsense, wildly off the mark — the viral Southern pronunciation of "sai lơ" (dead wrong), immortalized by the "nói xà lơ" clip.
xàm xí
Silly nonsense talk — the doubled, dismissive form of "xàm": what you call chatter that is both pointless and a little annoying.
xát muối vào vết thương
to add insult to injury
xé tay vá vạt
Tearing the sleeve to patch the hem — poverty's tailoring, robbing one edge for the other.
xôi hỏng bỏng không
The sticky rice failed and the puffed rice came to nothing — every attempt ending empty-handed.
xôi thịt
(figurative, disapproving) a feast-chaser or philistine — someone whose horizons end at the banquet table: greedy for material perks, indifferent to culture or principle. From the sticky rice and meat of village feasts; "chủ nghĩa xôi thịt" (xôi-thịt-ism) names the whole self-serving mindset.
xăng pha nhớt
Petrol cut with engine oil — a jeering label for bisexuality; dated and unkind.
xướng ca vô loài
singers and (more generally) musicians are immoral
xả cận cầu viễn
Discarding the near to chase the far — the treasure at your feet traded for a rumor over the hill.
xả hàng
To dump the goods — unload a position hard and fast, flooding the market; what the big players do the moment the hype peaks.
xả xú páp
Blowing off the exhaust valve — venting steam before the engine bursts.
xảo giả đa lao chuyết nhàn
The deft get the work, the clumsy get the rest — skill is rewarded with more labor.
xất bất xang bang
Knocked every which way — battered about until there's no move left to make.
xấu chữ mà lành nghĩa
Poor script, sound meaning — homely outside, worthy within.
xấu gỗ tốt nước sơn
Poor wood under fine varnish — surface investment where substance is missing.
xấu hay làm tốt, dốt hay nói chữ
The plain love adornment, the ignorant love book-talk — each lack shops loudest for its own cover.
xấu lá xấu nem, xấu em xấu chị
A bad leaf shames the roll; a bad sister shames the elder — flaws are contagious along every bundle and bloodline.
xấu máu đòi ăn của độc
Weak blood craving the rich dish — appetite pointed exactly where it does the most harm.
xấu như ma
Ugly as a ghost — looks that startle.
xấu xa cũng thế chồng ta, dù cho tốt đẹp cũng ra chồng người
Homely as he is, he's my husband — the handsomest man is still somebody else's — fidelity's tart arithmetic.
xấu đều hơn tốt lỏi
Evenly plain beats patchily fine — better all-around modest than brilliant in spots.
xẩy đàn tan nghé
The flock scattered, the calf lost — one breakup and every dependent is adrift.
xập xám chướng
The thirteen banes — the mahjong-hand name repurposed for a full house of vices.
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