cờ tay ai người ấy phất, đèn nhà ai nhà ấy rạng
Whoever holds the flag waves it; whoever's house the lamp is in, it brightens — each to their own charge and glory.
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cờ về tay ai nấy phất
Whoever holds the flag waves it — authority belongs to the hand it lands in.
cờ đến tay
The flag come to your hand — the moment of authority arrived; wave it.
cục tạ
Affectionately, one’s ball-and-chain — a partner jokingly called a heavy burden.
của chìm của nổi
Sunken wealth and floating wealth — assets seen and unseen; the visible fortune and the buried one.
của chẳng ngon chớ nào lỗ miệng
The gift needn't be delicious to honor the mouth — devotion, not delicacy, gives the offering its worth.
của chẳng ngon nhiều con cũng hết
Plain food vanishes where children are many — hungry numbers make any dish precious.
của chồng công vợ
The husband's earnings, the wife's keeping — property is his making and her minding, and both have the use of it.
của gối đầu bà già
Wealth under an old woman's pillow — savings kept where no saving is.
của là nuốm ruột
Property is a knot of one's gut — people grieve money as flesh; some die of the grieving.
của người phúc ta
Their goods, our blessing — profiting from what cost us nothing.
của thiên giả địa
Heaven's goods return to earth — ill-got wealth finds its way back out.
của thiên, trả địa
Close to the English saying: “Ill gotten, ill spent. (Mr. B Lam).”.
của thế gian, ai khôn ngoan thì đặng
The world's goods go to the clever — wealth circulates, and wit is the net that catches it passing.
của vắn mặt dài
Goods run short, faces stay long — the feast ends, the acquaintance doesn't; spend as if you'll meet again.
của ít lòng nhiều
possessing little and not giving any significant gifts, but being very warm-hearted instead
của đổ mà hốt
Scooping up what was spilled — salvage that never comes back whole.
củi tre một bọn, bài thập một môn
Bamboo kindling in one bundle, the tens in one suit — birds of a feather, cards of a suit.
củi đậu nấu đậu
Boiling beans over bean-stalk fire — a thing consumed by its own kind.
cứ bở thì đào
Where it crumbles, keep digging — press every soft spot to its bottom.
cứng đầu cứng cổ
Stiff-headed and stiff-necked — stubbornly defiant of all correction.
cứu vật vật trả ơn, cứu nhơn nhơn trả oán
Save a beast and it repays kindness; save a man and he repays spite — gratitude, the animals' virtue.
cử nhứt khả dĩ suy kỳ dư
From one instance, infer the rest — a single case unlocks its whole kind.
cửa hàng văn phòng phẩm
stationery shop
cửa hàng đồ làm vườn
garden-supplies shop
cửa Khổng sân Trình
The gate of Confucius, the yard of Trình — the classical world of scholars and their learning.
cửa đóng then cài
Door shut, bolt slid — the house, or the heart, closed for the season.
cửu hạn phùng cam vũ
Long drought meets sweet rain — relief at its most longed-for; one of the four classical joys.
cửu tử nhứt sanh
Nine parts death, one part life — odds narrowed to a single thread of survival.
cựa lắm càng sầy vẩy
A hard-up house bears clever children — want is the sharpest tutor.
cực hay
"Extremely good" — the intensifier "cực" (extreme) doing everyday duty; what reviews and group chats say when five stars feel deserved.
cực phẩm
A "supreme specimen" — playful praise crowning someone or something as top-shelf: the finest example the category has to offer.
da bọc xương
nothing but skin and bones; mere bag of bones
da cóc mà bọc bột-lọc, bột-lọc mà bọc hòn than
Toad-skin wrapping tapioca-white, wrapping a coal-black heart — the longan riddle; appearances nested three layers deep.
dai như chão
Tough as an old mooring rope — chewy, stubborn, unbreakable.
dai như giẻ
Stuck like lacquer — an attachment nothing peels.
dai đỉa đói
Clingy as a starved leech — attachment that feeds as it holds.
danh bất hư truyền
reputation is well merited
danh chính ngôn thuận
to be fitting and proper; to be perfectly justified or deserved
danh lam thắng cảnh
famous sights and beautiful landscapes; splendid tourist attractions
danh thanh đại chấn
A name that shakes the air — renown that resounds far and wide.
danh ô nan thục
A soiled name has no ransom — reputation, once fouled, is past buying back.
dao cau rọc lá trầu vàng Mắt anh anh liếc,mắt nàng nàng đưa
The areca knife slits the golden betel leaf; my eye slides to you and yours to me — flirtation sharp and folded as the quid itself.
dao năng liếc thì sắc
A blade often honed stays sharp — practice is the whetstone of every skill.
dc
Texting shortcut for “được” — can / OK / fine.
deadline dí
Deadline in hot pursuit — "dí" is the chase: the work is behind you, gaining, and your weekend is what it eats.
di tửu vô lượng bất cập loạn
Wine without measure, but never to disorder — drink to your capacity's edge and not a cup past.
dinh tất dật
What is full must overflow — at the brim, stop pouring.
dinh, hư, tiêu, trưởng
Waxing, waning, wearing, growing — a life keeps the moon's four seasons.
diễn sâu
Overacting the moment — performing emotions several sizes too deep for the occasion, on camera or off.
diện phục tâm bất phục
The face submits, the heart does not — obedience worn on the features and nowhere else.
diệt địa giai nhiên
Change the soil, the same nature — the worthy stay worthy wherever transplanted.
dm
Vulgar expletive initialism (đ* má) — “damn it / f—”. Extremely common online as pure exclamation; still an obscenity.
dth
Texting shortcut for “dễ thương” — cute, adorable.
du thủ du thực
Idle hands, drifting mouth — living loose on play and scrounged meals.
duyên ai nấy gặp
Each meets the match fate kept — marriages arrive by their own appointment.
duyên cầm sắt
The lute-and-zither bond — a marriage in true harmony.
duyên sắt cầm
The zither-and-lute bond — a couple in close, harmonious love.
duyện mộc cầu ngư
Climbing a tree to catch fish — seeking where the sought has never lived.
dài lưng tốn vải
a long back wastes cloth
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