trai mà chi, gái mà chi Sinh ra có nghĩa có nghì là hơn Sinh con ai nỡ sinh lòng Sinh con ai chẳng vun trồng cho con
What matters boy, what matters girl — a child of duty and gratitude is the better birth — the verse against preferring sons.
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trai tài gái sắc
Talented men and beautiful women — the classical matched pair; each sex graded on its old currency.
trang mô tác dạng
Striking poses and arranging appearances — performance in place of substance.
trc
Texting shortcut for “trước” — before / first. “đi trc nha” = heading out first.
tre già măng mọc
when bamboos grow old, young shoots spring up
tre khóc măng
The bamboo weeps for the shoot — a parent burying a child; grief in the wrong order.
tre non dễ uốn
Young bamboo bends easily — training is a property of greenness.
treo đầu dê, bán thịt chó
To advertise one thing but deliver another — deceptive marketing or bait-and-switch.
tri gian bất tố
Knowing the crime and not reporting — concealment convicted as complicity.
tri túc thường túc, chung thân bất nhục
Know sufficiency and be always sufficient — a life unhumiliated to its end.
tri tử mạc nhược phụ
No one knows the child like the father — parenthood is the longest observation.
triêu xan dạ túc
Breakfast at dawn, lodging at dusk — the traveler's steady rhythm of road and rest.
triều tam mộ tứ
Three at dawn and four at dusk — the monkey-keeper's shuffle; the same total, resold as a concession.
trong cái rủi có cái may
every cloud has a silver lining
trong hai phút nữa
... in two minutes.
trong mười lăm phút nữa
... in fifteen minutes.
trong một phút nữa
... in a minute.
trong một tiếng nữa
... in an hour.
trong nhà chửa tỏ, ngoài ngõ đã biết
Unclear inside the house, already known out in the lane — the household's secrets commute faster than its members.
trong nửa tiếng nữa
... in half an hour.
trong đom-đóm, ngoài bó đuốc
A firefly indoors, a torch outdoors — glow saved for the audience, dark kept for the family.
trong đầm gì đẹp bằng sen, lá xanh bông trắng lại chen nhị vàng. Nhị vàng bông trắng lá xanh, gần bùn mà chẳng hôi tanh mùi bùn
What in the marsh is lovelier than the lotus — green leaf, white bloom, gold stamens — near the mud yet never smelling of mud — Vietnam's emblem of integrity.
trong ấm ngoài êm
Warm within, calm without — the well-run household's climate report.
trung ngôn nghịch nhỉ
Honest words offend the ear — counsel's truest note is the one that grates.
trung quân ái quốc
to be loyal to the monarch and love the country; loyalty to the monarch and love for the country
trung thần bất húy tử, húy tử bất trung thần
The loyal fear no death; the death-fearing are not loyal — allegiance is priced in exactly one currency.
trung tâm thông tin du lịch
tourist information office
truyền đời báo danh
Announce it down the generations — a standing threat: obey, or the punishment will find you.
trách ai tính chuyện đa đoan, đã hái được mận lại toan bẻ đào
Blame the one who schemed too widely — plum already picked, and reaching to snap the peach besides.
trách người quân tử vô danh, chơi hoa xong lại bẻ cành bán rao
Blame the nameless 'gentleman' — done with the flower, he breaks the branch and hawks it — the seducer's full itinerary.
trái gió trở trời
When the wind crosses and the sky turns — the aches of changing weather; moods that turn with it.
trái tính trái nết
Cross-grained in temper and habit — a nature that rubs everyone the wrong way.
tránh voi chẳng sợ xấu mặt
Yielding to the elephant shames no one's face — stepping aside from the overwhelming is sense, not cowardice.
tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa
away from the watermelon rind, into the coconut shell
trân cầm dị thú
Rare birds and strange beasts — exotic treasures of the menagerie.
trâu buộc ghét trâu ăn
The chained water buffalo hates the water buffalo that grazes.
trâu béo kéo trâu gầy
The fat buffalo hauls for the thin — strength's duty to carry what weakness can't.
trâu bò húc nhau, ruồi muỗi chết
When the strong-willed members of a group butt heads, the bystanders suffer.
trâu chốc cật thấy ác bay qua liền né
The sore-backed buffalo shies at every passing crow — a wound installs its own lookout.
trâu cày, ngựa cỡi
Buffaloes plow, horses are ridden — each creature issued its own employment at birth.
trâu già gặm cỏ non
robbing the cradle
trâu ho bằng bò rống
A buffalo's cough equals an ox's bellow — the great man's smallest ailment outweighs the small man's crisis.
trâu sống không ai mà cả, trâu ngã nhiều kẽ cầm dao
No offers while the buffalo lives; a dozen knives when it falls — vultures respect only the moment of collapse.
trâu tìm cột, cột chẳng tìm trâu
The buffalo seeks the post, never the post the buffalo — the dependent goes to the anchor: servant to master, child to parent.
trâu đạp củng chết voi đạp củng chết
Trampled by buffalo or elephant, dead either way — the gambler's shrug: if losing, lose big.
trâu đồng nào ăn cỏ đồng nấy
Each field's buffalo grazes its own field — marry in the village, and let no outsider's beast in.
trèo cao té đau
the bigger they are, the harder they fall
trèo cao, té đàu
Slip-ups becomes more consequential, the more influence you have.
trên bảo, dưới không nghe
to impotent, unable to achieve or sustain an erection, having impotentia coeundi
trên kính dưới nhường
Respect upward, yield downward — the well-ordered household's two directions of courtesy.
trên par hoặc dưới par
over or under par
trên thuận dưới hoà
Harmony above, concord below — the whole hierarchy at peace.
trêu cò cò mổ mắt
Tease the stork and it pecks your eye — bait the patient bird at your own risk.
trí dục viên, nhi hạnh dục phương
Mind rounded, conduct squared — thought should turn freely; behavior should keep corners.
trí giả sở kiến lược đồng
The wise see roughly alike — climb high enough and every summit shows one view.
trí giả thiên lực tất hữu nhứt thất, ngu giả thiên lực tất hữu nhứt đắc
The wise err once in a thousand thoughts; the fool scores once — humility for one, hope for the other; even a madman's word is worth the sages' sifting.
trí quá tắc cải
A fault understood and corrected is cancelled; understood and kept, it doubles.
tròn vành rõ chữ
Round of rim, clear of letters — enunciation polished until every word stands whole.
trôi sông lạc chợ
Drifted downriver, strayed through markets — the unhoused and unregistered, current-borne.
trôn
Trôn — Vietnamized 'troll': to wind someone up online for laughs.