một sâu bỏ cả nồi canh
One worm spoils the whole soup-pot — a single bad actor sours the lot.
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một tay bế lũ con thơ Một tay giành lấy mà đưa xuống bùn Một mai cha yếu mẹ già, chén cơm ai xới, chén trà ai dâng
One arm cradling the little ones, one arm fending the world — and someday, father frail and mother old, who will heap the rice bowl, who lift the tea.
một thằng tính bằng chín thằng làm
One who plans equals nine who toil — good thinking multiplies labor; a single clear head is worth a crew of busy hands.
một trăm người bán, một vạn người mua
A hundred sellers, ten thousand buyers — demand this deep fears no unsold stall.
một vay một trả bằng nhau
Each borrowing repaid exactly even — sin is debt, and the ledger always balances.
một vốn bốn lãi
One capital, four in interest — the trader's dream margin.
một đi không trở lại
to go once and never come back; gone once and never coming back
một đêm nằm, một năm ngụ
One night's lodging, one year's debt — brief shelter, long gratitude.
một đồng một giỏ, không bỏ nghề câu
One coin and one creel, and never quit the fishing — the angler's creed of small, steady livelihood.
một đời kiện, chín đời thù
One generation's lawsuit, nine generations' feud — litigation's long half-life.
mớ bảy mớ ba
Sevenfold and threefold robes — dressed in layer upon layer of finery.
mới chuộng cũ vong
Doting on the new, forgetting the old — affection with a trade-in policy.
mỡ đấy mà húp
Fat there for the slurping — an easy pot to skim; gains left carelessly in reach.
mỡ để miệng mèo
Lard left at the cat's mouth — temptation stored inside the appetite it tempts.
mực mài tròn, son mài dài
Ink is ground in circles, vermilion in strokes — every craft by its own proper motion.
nai giạt móng, chó cũng le lưỡi
The deer's hooves worn flat, the dog's tongue hanging out — a chase that exhausted both and settled nothing.
nai ăn đâu nát giạu đó
Where the deer grazes, the hedge is trampled — a guest's keep is the host's damage.
Nam mô A Di Đà Phật
Namo Amitābhāya, a common phrase of salutation used by Buddhists
nam nữ bất tạp tọa
Men and women do not sit mingled — the old propriety of separated company.
nam nữ thụ thụ bất thân
appropriately, unless related by blood or marriage, men and women should avoid physical contact
nam thực như hổ, nữ thực như miêu
men eat like tigers, women eat like cats
nam tôn nữ ti
valuing men above women, the belief that men are superior to women
nam đáo nữ phòng nam tắc tử, nữ đáo nam phòng nữ tắc dâm
A man in her chamber dies; a woman in his is disgraced — the old law's brutal asymmetry of trespass.
Namkiki
Namkiki — a derogatory regionalist nickname for southerners ('Nam Kỳ'); recorded here as discriminatory slang to recognize, not to use.
nan huinh nan đệ
Hard to find such a brother, hard such a younger — sibling excellence in matched pairs is rarest of all.
nay đây mai đó
Here today, there tomorrow — residence as a rumor.
nc
Texting shortcut for “nói chuyện” (to chat) — or “nước” (water); context decides.
ng
Texting shortcut for “người” — person.
ngang bằng sổ ngay
Level strokes and straight columns — accounts ruled clean; everything squared.
ngang lưng thì thắt bao vàng, đầu đội nón dấu, vai mang súng dài. Một tay thì cắp hỏa mai, một tay cắp giáo, quan sai xuống thuyền. Tùng tùng trống đánh ngũ liên, chân bước xuống thuyền nước mắt như mưa
Gold sash at the waist, pressed hat, long musket; flintlock in one hand, lance in the other, ordered down to the boats — drums beat five-fold, and boarding, his tears fall like rain — the conscript's farewell.
ngay ruột ngựa
Straight as a horse's gut — candor with no bends in it.
nghe chưa
The sentence-final "got it?" — parents, teachers, and big sisters use it to nail an instruction in place.
nghe có lý
"That actually makes sense" — a fair-minded nod to a point that lands; agreement earned mid-conversation, not planned.
nghe hơi nồi chõ
Sniffing the steamer from outside — knowledge claimed from the smell of other people's cooking.
nghe miết điếc con ráy
Heard so often the ear-wax goes deaf — nagging repeated past all hearing.
nghi nhơn mạc dụng, dụng nhơn mạc nghi
Suspect, don't employ; employ, don't suspect — trust must be whole or withheld.
nghiêng thành đổ nước
Beauty to topple citadels and spill rivers — loveliness of kingdom-wrecking degree.
nghèo nhân nghèo nghĩa thì lo, nghèo tiền nghèo bạc chả lo là nghèo
Fear poverty of kindness and duty, not poverty of coin — the only destitution that matters is moral.
nghèo rớt mồng tơi
so damn broke; so financially wanting
nghĩa hải hào tình
A sea of decency between strangers — warm generosity owed to no one, freely given.
nghĩa nặng tình thâm
Heavy duty and deep affection — a bond of obligation and love grown profound.
nghề võ đánh trả thầy
The martial art turned on its master — the student striking with the very skill the teacher gave.
nghệ năng sở sử
The trade steers the tradesman — each calling bends its practitioner to itself.
nghệ thuật vị nghệ thuật
art for art's sake
nghỉ trưa
The midday break — a real institution: shops dim, offices nap, Vietnam pauses roughly 11:30–13:30. Schedule around it.
nghị huyện tri thủy
Ants know where the water is — Guan Zhong dug at the ant-hills and the army drank; small creatures, sound intelligence.
ngoan xinh yêu
Ngoan xinh yêu — 'well-behaved, pretty, lovable': the tripartite compliment for someone adorably wholesome.
ngoe ngoảy như cua gãy càng
Sashaying like a crab with a snapped claw — a strut that its own damage makes ridiculous.
ngon bá cháy
Blazingly delicious — Southern "bá cháy" pushes tastiness into festival territory; food-stall superlative of choice.
ngon hết nước chấm
So good there is no dipping sauce left to describe it — a grinning superlative born at the family table.
ngon nhức nách
Deliciousness that "aches the armpit" — gleefully absurd anatomy for food (or deals) too good to review calmly.
ngon quá
"So delicious!" — say it mid-bite and mean it; the highest compliment a cook hears all day, and the cheapest gift you can give.
ngoài miệng thì nói Nam mô, trong lòng thì chứa ba bồ dao găm
'Nam mô' on the lips, three basketfuls of daggers in the heart — piety worn over an armory.
ngoảnh đi ngoảnh lại
Describes time passing in a flash.
ngu si hưởng thái bình
The simple enjoy the peace — untroubled by knowing better, the fool sleeps soundest.
nguy bất nhập, loạn bất cư
Enter no peril, dwell in no disorder — the wise map draws itself around danger.
nguyễn y vân
Nguyen-y-van — 'unchanged as ever': a pun reshuffling 'vẫn y nguyên' into a fake person's name.
ngàn cân treo sợi tóc
precarious, on thin ice
ngày ba tháng tám
The third day and the eighth month — the hungry gaps between harvests; the lean weeks of the farming year.
ngày một ngày hai
In a day or two — very soon; within days.
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