mút chỉ cà tha
Out past the last thread's end — impossibly far; the back of beyond.
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măng không uốn để ra tre uốn làm sao đặng
Bend the shoot or never bend the bamboo — correction has a season, and it is early.
mĩ nhân hồng ảnh
A beauty's rosy silhouette — the graceful figure of a lovely woman.
mũ ni che tai
A monk's bonnet over the ears — hearing switched off by choice; serene, convenient deafness.
mũi dại lái chịu đòn
The prow blunders, the helm takes the beating — the subordinate's error lands on the captain's back.
mũi tên hòn đạn
Arrowheads and bullets — the battlefield and its ever-present risk of death.
mũi vạy thì lái chịu đòn
When the prow skews, the helm takes the beating — subordinates' errors land on the leader's back.
mưa gió phải thì
Rain and wind in due season — a maiden come to marrying age, in the old delicate phrase.
mưa Sở mây Tần
Rain of Chu and clouds of Qin — lovers' trysts; shared pillows and passing passion.
mưa thuận gió hoà
Obedient rain and harmonious wind — the weather of a blessed year, in field or family.
mưu cao chẳng bằng trí dày
A tall scheme is less than a thick mind — one clever stroke loses to durable sense.
mưu con đĩ, trí học trò
The harlot's schemes, the student's wiles — the two proverbial founts of cunning.
mưu sự tại nhân, thành sự tại thiên
Things seldom turn out as you have planned.
mười năm lưu lạc giang hồ, một ngày tu tỉnh, cơ đồ lại nên
Ten years adrift on rivers and lakes; one day of mending, and the estate stands again — it is never too late to turn.
mười rằm giăng náu, mười sáu giăng treo
On the fifteenth the moon hides, on the sixteenth it hangs — the lunar month's choreography, named night by night.
mười voi không được bát sáo
Ten elephants promised, not one bowl of broth delivered — grandiosity's actual yield.
mười ăn chín nhịn
Ten meals, nine fasted — hunger as the household's standing menu.
mười điểm không có nhưng
A perfect ten, no “buts” — flawless, full marks.
mượn gió bẻ măng
to fish in troubled waters
mượn đầu heo nấu cháo
Borrowing a pig's head to boil porridge — staging wealth with borrowed props.
mạ nhơn như giáo nhơn
Scolding a man is schooling him — your breath spent, his wisdom gained; the rebuked walks off with the profit.
mạc hiện hồ ẩn, mạc hiển hồ vi
Nothing shows like the hidden — the secret is the loudest thing in the house.
mạng dân trí trọng
The people's lives weigh heaviest — no charge is graver than a human life.
mạng lý hữu thì chung tu hữu, mạng lý vô thì mạc cượng cầu
What fate holds will come; what fate lacks, don't force — the ledger of one's portion is already written.
mạnh ai nấy làm
Whoever's strong does as they please — everyone charging off their own way with no coordination.
mạnh dùng sức, yếu dùng chước
The strong spend strength, the weak spend stratagem — every build of person has its own lever.
mạnh gạo bạo tiền
Strong in rice, bold in money — courage that rises with the pantry.
mạt cưa mướp đắng
deceiver, swindler, fraudster, scammer
mải mại thuận nhơn tình
Trade follows willingness — a sale both sides wanted leaves nothing to repent.
mất bò mới lo làm chuồng
To take precautions only after the loss has already happened.
mất cả chì lẫn chài
to lose everything, including initial investment
mất hút con mẹ hàng lươn
to be gone without a trace after committing misdeeds
mất lòng còn ruột
Feelings bruised, kinship intact — the quarrel stops short of the blood.
mất lòng trước nhưng được lòng sau
Offend first, please after — the honest word stings today and earns trust tomorrow.
mất miếng ăn, lộn gan lên đầu
Lose a mouthful and the liver flips overhead — no rage like the rage over a plate.
mất một đền mười
Lose one, repay ten — restitution at punitive scale.
mất sổ gạo
a tragic, distressing, miserable situation (like losing one's book of rations)
mất ăn mất ngủ
overthinking, worrying, and stressing out to the point of not eating or sleeping well
mấy giờ rồi?
What time is it?
mấy đời bánh đúc có xương, mấy đời dì ghẻ lại thương con chồng
When did rice-cake ever have bones; when did a stepmother ever love her husband's child — the bitterest of family proverbs.
mật mỡ đỡ đứa vụng
Honey and fat rescue the clumsy cook — rich ingredients forgive poor hands.
mật ngọt chết ruồi
sweet words are poison; a honey tongue, a heart of gall
mật ít ruồi nhiều
Little honey, many flies — demand entirely out of scale with supply.
mắt chữ O mồm chữ A
to be shocked; to be gobsmacked
mắt phượng mày ngài
Phoenix eyes and silkworm brows — the classical specification of a beautiful face.
mặt chay mày đá
A fasting face over stone brows — impassivity past embarrassing.
mặt cắt không còn giọt máu
A face drained of its last drop of blood — white with terror.
mặt dày bánh đúc
A face thick as rice cake — brazen; armored against all shame.
mặt dày mày dạn
shameless; barefaced
mặt hoa da phấn
A flower face and powdered skin — fresh, silken feminine beauty.
mặt ngang mũi dọc
A level face and a straight nose — presentable; nothing to apologize for.
mặt phấn mồm son
Powdered face and rouged mouth — a woman all surface, painted for display.
mặt trơ như mặt thớt
A face blank as a chopping block — shameless; impervious to embarrassment.
mặt xanh nanh vàng
Green face and yellow fangs — the physiognomy of menace, or of ruinously hard living.
mặt xám mày xanh
Mistletoe crowding the branch — the guest outgrowing its host.
mẹ chồng không ai nói tốt nàng dâu, nàng dâu không ai nói tốt mẹ chồng
No one speaks well of the daughter-in-law to the mother-in-law, nor of the mother-in-law to the bride — the household's oldest cold front.
mẹ già như chuối chín cây, gió lay mẹ rụng, con phải mồ côi
An aged mother is a banana ripe on the tree — one gust and she falls, and the child is orphaned — cherish her while the stem holds.
mẹ già ở tấm lều tranh Sớm thăm tối viếng mới đành dạ con
An old mother in a thatched lean-to — visit at dawn and again at dusk, or a child's heart cannot rest.
mẹ gà con vịt chít chiu, mấy đời mẹ ghẻ nưng niu con chồng
Mother hen, duckling brood — when has a stepmother doted on the husband's child; mismatched care, thinly given.
mẹ nuôi con bằng giời bằng bể, con nuôi mẹ con kể từng ngày
A mother feeds her child by the sky and sea; the child feeds its mother counting the days — devotion downstream, arithmetic upstream.