CCQ
initialism of các cơ quan (“agencies”)
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
cha chài chú chóp
Elephant's head, mousetail ending — the grand start dwindling to its little finish.
cha già con mọn
An old father and a small child — care's hardest overlap: age at one end, infancy at the other.
cha hắn lú chú hắn khôn
The father a dolt, the uncle sharp — no household is issued fools throughout.
cha mẹ cú đẻ con tiên
Owl parents, fairy child — a splendid child of unpromising stock.
cha mẹ giàu con thong thả, cha mẹ nghèo con vất vả gian nan. Sớm mai lên núi đốt than, chiều về xuống biển đào hang bắt còng
Rich parents, an easy child; poor parents, a child of hardship — charcoal on the mountain at dawn, crab-holes on the shore at dusk.
cha mẹ sinh con, giời đất sinh tính
Parents make the child; heaven and earth make its temperament — the disposition arrives from a different workshop.
cha mẹ sinh con, trời sinh tính
parents may be the ones who birth their children, but it's heaven who gives them their personality
cha nào, con nấy
Like father, like son.
cha sinh không bằng mẹ dưỡng
Begetting is less than rearing — the mother who raises outranks the blood that made.
cha sinh mẹ dưỡng
Father begets, mother nurtures — the division of the first debt.
cha ăn mặn, con khát nước
The father eats salty, the child grows thirsty — one generation's excesses billed to the next.
check var
To demand or run a fact-check on someone's claim — borrowed from football's VAR video review — especially calling out inflated charity donations or lifestyle flexes with receipts.
chi mà
A gentle Central push-back meaning "what for?" or "why even bother?" — softens a disagreement into a shrug rather than a challenge.
chi rứa
Central Vietnamese for "what's that? / what's going on?" — the surprised question you hear across Huế and Quảng where standard speech says "gì vậy".
chia uyên rẽ thuý
to separate two lovers
chim chích vào rừng
A tailorbird entering the forest — the small specialist lost in the big wild.
chim có tổ, người có tông
one should never forget about one's ancestry
chim cầu khách quán
A bridge bird at a wayside inn — perched a moment, gone the next; a life with no fixed roost.
chim khôn tránh bẩy tránh dò, người khôn tránh kẻ hồ đồ mới khôn
The wise bird shuns snare and trap; the wise person shuns the reckless — self-preservation is the first wisdom.
chim không kêu tiếng rảnh rang, người khôn nói tiếng dịu dàng dễ nghe
A wise bird doesn't waste its call; a wise person speaks gently and is heard — soft speech is the mark of sense.
chim lồng cá chậu
A bird in a cage, a fish in a bowl — comfort without freedom; a pampered captivity.
chim nhát là chim sống lâu
The timid bird lives longest — mocked as cowardice, practiced as longevity.
chim sổ lồng
The bird once out of the cage — gone without a backward glance, past all recall.
chim sợ cành cong
Close to the English saying: “once bitten, twice shy.”.
chim trời ai dễ đếm lông
Who could count the feathers of the sky's birds — the unaccountable, in one line.
chim trời cá nước
Sky-birds and water-fish — the untethered, at home nowhere and everywhere.
chiên ghẻ
a group's member who adversely influences on other members and besmirches a group's reputation; a bad apple
chiêng làng dùi dứa
The village gong beaten with a pineapple-leaf stick — token effort loudly performed.
chiềng cha chiềng chú
Hear ye, fathers and uncles — the old crier's opening; the village grapevine convened.
chiều chiều ra đứng ngõ sau Trông về quê mẹ ruột đau chín chiều
Evening after evening at the back gate, gazing toward mother's village — a gut aching nine ways at dusk — homesickness's most quoted couplet.
cho hỏi
The universal question opener — "may I ask…" — soften any request to a stranger by leading with it; fuller form "làm ơn cho hỏi" is extra-polite.
cho rồi
just so that I/we can forget about this and move on
cho tôi cái này
Point-and-order: "I'll take this one" — the menu-independent survival move; swap "tôi" for "em/anh/chị" to match the seller.
cho xin hai chữ bình yên
A weary "just give me some peace" — half-plea, half-snark asking someone to stop bothering you; the Vietnamese "give me a break".
choáng luôn
Stunned outright — "choáng" (dizzy with shock) plus the sealing "luôn": knocked flat by a number, a reveal, a price tag.
chs
Texting shortcut for “chả hiểu sao” — no idea why / somehow.
chu pa pi mô nha nhố
A nonsense phrase meaning roughly "I know nothing about it" — feigned innocence, borrowed from the Spanish-language "Chupapi Muñañyo" prank meme.
chua chanh chát muối
Lime-sour and salt-bitter words — the tart little cruelties lovers trade.
chua như dấm
Sour as vinegar — tartness at full strength.
chung thì chạ
What's held in common gets tangled — joint ventures breed quarrels.
chuyền bóng mắt lác
Cross-eyed passing — deliberate misdirection that leaves the other side not knowing where to look.
chuyện nhỏ như con thỏ
“No big deal” — a trivially easy matter, with a rabbit rhyme for flavor.
chuyện thường ngày ở huyện
a negative occurrence or situation within a community but is such commonplace that no one even bothers to bat an eye anymore
chuyện đâu còn có đó
things are still salvageable
chuông Châu, trống Ủng, mõ Đầu
The bell of Châu, the drum of Ủng, the clapper of Đầu — three villages, three famous voices.
chuông chẳng đánh chẳng kêu, đèn chẳng khêu chẳng sáng
An unstruck bell is silent; an untrimmed lamp is dark — merit unannounced goes unknown.
chuông khánh còn chẳng ăn ai, nữa là mảnh chĩnh
Even bell and chime win no notice — what chance has a potsherd — if the distinguished go unheard, the ordinary needn't ask.
chuông kêu thử tiếng
Test the bell by its ring — quality auditioned before purchase; people, by their speech.
chuẩn bài
Exactly by the book, perfectly on point — an approving stamp that something was said or done just the way it should be.
chuẩn cơm mẹ nấu
Up to mom's-cooking standard — exactly right; the authentic, satisfying real deal.
chuỗi cửa hàng đồ ăn nhanh
fast-food chain
chuột bầy làm chẳng nên hang
A swarm of mice digs no burrow — without a leader, many hands build nothing.
chuột sa chình nếp
A mouse dropped into the sticky-rice crock — the poor man landed in a rich marriage.
chuột sa chĩnh gạo
A mouse dropped into the rice crock — poverty landing in plenty.
chuột sa hũ nếp
A mouse fallen into the sticky-rice jar — landing in luxury, especially by marrying into money.
chà bá lửa
Absolutely humongous — "chà bá" (huge) cranked up one more notch, with "lửa" (fire) as a pure intensifier.
chà đồ nhôm
To pilfer things from one's own home to sell, usually for pocket money or a vice — nói lái of "chôm đồ nhà" (steal the house's stuff). Southern, humorous.
chàng đâu thiếp đó
Where he goes, she follows — the old wifely rule of following the husband everywhere.
chào buổi sáng
good morning
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