họa hổ họa bì nan họa cốt, tri nhơn tri diện bất tri tâm
Skin and stripes paint easily, bones don't; faces are known easily, hearts not — the inside of tiger and man alike resists the brush.
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họa hổ loại cẩu
Painted a tiger, produced a dog — ambition's masterpiece, delivered as farce.
họa khởi ư tiêu tường
Calamity rises inside the screen-wall — the house's ruin is plotted in its own inner rooms.
họa lai thần ám
When calamity arrives, the wits go dark — in the thick of trouble, the mind can't find its own door; blessing's opposite, where luck sharpens thought.
họa phù thân đái
Painting the talisman you wear yourself — issuing one's own credentials.
họa phước vô môn, di nhơn tự triệu
Fortune and misfortune have no gate — each is invited by its own tenant.
học như gà đá vách
Studying like a chicken sparring a wall — effort loud, progress none.
học sư bất như học hữu
Learning from the master is less than learning from friends — peers teach what lecterns can't.
học thày chẳng tầy học bạn
Learning from the master is not learning from friends — the peer teaches what the lectern can't.
học trò xứ Quảng ra thi Thấy cô gái Huế bỏ đi không đành
The Quảng student came for the examinations, saw a Huế girl, and could not make himself leave — scholarship's oldest hazard.
học tài thi phận
Study makes the talent, the exam makes the fate — learning proposes, the examination hall disposes.
hỏa thượng thiêm du
Oil onto the fire — goading a blaze that needed calming.
hỏi sư mượn lược
Borrowing a comb from a monk — supply requested at the one address certain to lack it.
hỏng nồi vơ rế
Pot ruined, grab the trivet-ring — salvage snatched from the wreck.
hồ giả hổ oai
The fox borrowing the tiger's terror — swagger rented from the power standing behind.
hồn ai nấy giữ
Each soul keeps its own — every man for himself; mind your own fate.
Hồng Hài Nhi
Hồng Hài Nhi — 'Red Boy' from Journey to the West, repurposed for a young man dating a much older woman.
hồng nhan bạc phận
A rosy face, a thin fate — beauty shadowed by misfortune; the lovely are born to suffer.
hồng nhan hoạ thuỷ
charming beauty who makes men fall and leads to disasters (such as a loss of wealth or reputation, or a toppled nation); dangerous woman; femme fatale
hồng-nhan đa truân
The rosy-cheeked meet many trials — beauty's toll, paid in troubles.
hổ phụ sinh hổ tử
father tigers produce child tigers
hộ hôn điền thổ, vạn cổ chi thù
Marriages, households and land — the feuds of ten thousand years; where lawsuits never die.
hội Thầy, giã La, bơi Đăm, rước Giá
Thầy's festival, La's rice-pounding, Đăm's regatta, Giá's procession — the spring calendar's four great outings.
hộp đựng kính áp tròng
contact lens case
hỡi cô tát nước bên đàng Sao cô tát ánh trăng vàng đổ đi
O girl bailing water by the road — why bail the golden moonlight and pour it away — courtship's most famous opening line.
hợp đồng âm dương
A yin-yang contract — the under-the-table twin of the official deal.
hữu cầu tất ứng
Ask and it answers — the responsive shrine; sincerity always finds its ear.
hữu danh nhàn phú quí, vô sự tiểu thần tiên
Famous and rich at leisure, or unbothered as a minor immortal — two blessings of equal rank.
hữu duyên thiên lý ngộ
With affinity, a thousand miles still meet — the fated find each other across any distance.
hữu lao vô công
The toil real, the credit missing — sweat entered in no ledger.
hữu quá tắc cải
Having a fault, mend it — error is only error once it's kept.
hữu sự bái tứ phương
In need, one bows to the four directions — necessity makes everyone your superior.
hữu thuỷ vô chung
to have a beginning but not an end
hữu thành tắc hữu thần
Where there is sincerity, there are the gods — devotion is what the spirits answer.
hữu thân hữu khổ
A body means burdens — to exist at all is to carry.
hữu thạnh hữu suy
Every flourishing has its fading — the tide chart of all fortune.
hữu thế bất khả ỷ tận
Never lean your whole weight on power — nor spend your whole stock of luck; keep reserves of both.
hữu xạ tự nhiên hương
"A good product does not need advertising.".
hỷ mũi chưa sạch
Nose not yet wiped clean — maturity claimed several years early.
idol tóp tóp
A "TikTok idol" — said with a smirk: famous on tóp tóp (the Vietnamese phonetic spelling of TikTok), and often only there.
im lặng là vàng
Staying silent is often the wisest, most valuable choice.
im lặng tức là đồng ý
Silence gives consent.
inh tai nhức óc
discordant and intolerable
j z tr
Texting abbreviation of "gì vậy trời" — "what on earth?!", an exclamation of disbelief.
khai khẩu như phá thạch
A mouth opening like stone splitting — words that land with a mason's finality.
khai môn ấp đạo
Opening the gate and bowing in the burglar — courtesy extended to one's own ruin.
khai quyển hữu ích
Opening any book profits — every volume keeps at least one useful line.
khai trương hồng phát
have a grand opening (used in congratulatory and celebratory settings)
khen Phò-mã tốt áo
Praising the Prince Consort's fine coat — flattery aimed where flattery is redundant.
khi kiến ăn cá, khi cá ăn kiến
Now the ant eats the fish, now the fish eats the ant — fortunes rotate even between the great and the tiny.
khi lành cho nhau ăn cháy, khi dữ mắng nhau cạy nồi
Fond, they share the crust; furious, they curse over the scrapings — affection swinging pot-to-pot.
khi lành quạt giấy cũng cho, khi dữ quạt mo cũng đòi
In favor, gifted the paper fan; out of favor, even the palm fan reclaimed — generosity with a repossession clause.
khi sư diệt tổ
Deceiving the master and effacing the founder — betraying one's own teacher and school.
khi và chỉ khi
when and only when
khinh nặc quả tín
Quick to promise, scarce to keep — the easy yes weighs least.
khinh sĩ mắc sĩ
Slight a scholar and be schooled by one — the shabby stranger may out-think you yet.
khoai vò mình củ
The yam polishing its own tuber — self-praise, root and skin.
khoan đã
"Wait — hold everything" — the full-stop interjection when something needs re-checking before anyone moves.
khoang tắc đắc chúng
Generosity gathers the crowd — largeness of measure is what people rally to.
khom lưng uốn gối
Bowed back and bent knee — cringing servility before the powerful.
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