rắn hai đầu
A two-headed snake — an ally facing both ways.
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rắn mất đầu
A snake without its head — a force that collapses the moment its leader falls.
rắn như đanh
Hard as a nail — rigid to the point of ringing.
rắn rít bò vào, cóc nhái bò ra
Snakes and centipedes crawl in, toads and frogs crawl out — species that cannot share a burrow.
rắn đi còn dằm để lại
The snake passes, the track stays — every passage leaves its signature.
rằng thì là mà
'That-which-thus-however' — the connective mush of a speech that circles and never lands.
rẻ tiền mặt, mắt tiền chịu
Cheap for cash, dear on credit — the two prices every stall really keeps.
rết nhiều chân
A centipede has many legs — the well-connected never lack support.
rễ má dây mơ
Tuber roots and creeper vines — kinship's tangle, connection by every underground runner.
rối canh hẹ
Tangled as chive soup — a snarl no chopstick sorts out.
rồng bay phụng múa
lively and vigorous
rồng nằm bể cạn phơi râu, mấy lời anh nói giấu đầu hở đuôi
A dragon beached in a dry pool, sunning its whiskers — your story hides its head and shows its tail — grandeur stranded, and a lie showing its seams.
rồng vàng tắm nước ao tù, người khôn ở với người ngu bực mình
A golden dragon bathing in a stagnant pond — the able person stuck among fools, and chafing.
rồng đến nhà tôm
someone of high status has paid a visit to someone of low status
rổ rá cạp lại
A mended basket lashed to a mended sieve — two previously-married people patching a life together.
rỗng như đít Bụt
completely empty
rộng chân rộng cẳng
Legs stretched wide and free — utterly unconstrained, with room to move at last.
rợn gió e sương
Shivering at wind, flinching from dew — too timid to venture a hand's-breadth.
rụng tim
Heart falls right out — mostly a swoon (unbearable cuteness or charm), occasionally a genuine jump-scare drop.
rụt cổ rùa
Tortoise-necked — shrinking back from every approach.
rủ nhau xuống biển bắt cua Bắt cua cua kẹp, bắt rùa rùa bơi
Off to the sea for crabs — grab the crab, it pinches; grab the turtle, it swims — the comedy of inept effort.
rủ nhau đi cấy đi cày, bây giờ khó nhọc, có ngày phong lưu. Trên đồng cạn, dưới đồng sâu, chồng cày vợ cấy, con trâu đi bừa
Off together to transplant and plow — hardship now, ease someday: shallow field above, deep field below, husband plowing, wife transplanting, buffalo harrowing — the family economy in one scene.
rừng có mạch, vách có tai, người trong chưa tỏ, người ngoài đã hay
The forest has veins and walls have ears — before those inside are clear, those outside already know.
rừng nhu biển thánh khôn dò, bé mà chẳng học, lớn mò sao ra
The forest of letters, the ocean of sages — fathomless; skip the learning young and grope for it old.
rừng vàng biển bạc
golden forests and silver seas
rửa mặt bằng tăm
Washing your face with a toothpick — hygiene in name only.
sa chân nhỡ bước
A slipped foot, a missed step — one stumble, and the path is a different one.
sa cơ lỡ vận
to fall into misfortune, especially with one's loss of asset
sai một ly, đi nghìn dặm
Off by a hair, astray by a thousand miles — precision's compound interest, in the negative.
sanh kí tử qui
Life is a lodging, death the return — we are clay on loan, homeward bound.
sanh sự sự sanh
Start trouble and trouble starts — incidents breed in whichever hand stirs them.
sanh thuận tử an
Live rightly, die peacefully — the calm death is prepaid by the decent life.
sanh tử bất sanh tâm, sanh ngưu vô sanh giác
Parents make the child, not its heart; the buffalo, not its horns — nature issues what nurture never ordered.
sao mau thì mưa, sao thưa thì nắng
Stars crowded, rain; stars sparse, sun — the night sky as almanac.
sao thế
Northern "what's the matter?" — same caring question as "sao vậy", wearing its Northern particle.
sao vậy
"What's wrong? / why?" — the concern-question; Southern "vậy" where the North asks "sao thế".
say tít cò bợ
Drunk as a spinning pond-heron — inebriation with its own axis.
se chỉ đào
Twisting the peach thread — tying the marriage knot, in the matchmaker's old phrase.
si lung ám á gia hào phú, trí huệ thông minh khước thọ bần
The dull and mute inherit mansions; the brilliant inherit poverty — providence balancing its books sideways.
sin lũi
Sorry — a deliberately cutesy respelling of "xin lỗi", used in texting to make an apology sound light and affectionate.
sinh nghề tử nghiêp
Close to the English saying: “Live by the sword, die by the sword. (the Bible)Mr. B.”.
sinh nhật bạn ngày nào?
When is your birthday?
sinh nhật vui vẻ
happy birthday
sinh sự, sự sinh
Close to the English saying: “Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you.”.
sinh voi sinh cỏ
Birth the elephant, and grass grows — providence scales to what it creates; children arrive with their provision.
sinh vô gia cư, tử vô địa táng
Born with no house to live in, dead with no ground to lie in — destitution's full biography in two clauses.
siêng ăn nhác làm
Keen to eat, slack to work — appetite without industry.
slay
Slay — borrowed English: to absolutely nail it; serving excellence with style.
sml
Vulgar “get wrecked / worked to the bone” — initialism of “sấp mặt l*”: face-down exhausted or utterly defeated.
sn
Texting shortcut for “sinh nhật” — birthday. “cmsn” = chúc mừng sinh nhật (happy birthday).
stress nhẹ
"Mildly stressed" — the self-diagnosis for manageable pressure; often an understatement delivered with a tired smile.
stt
Texting shortcut for “status” — a social-media post. “lên stt” = to post about it.
suy bụng ta ra bụng người
to project (to assume qualities or mindsets in others based on one's own)
suy cổ nghiệm kim
Weigh the old to test the new — history is the instrument the present is measured with.
suy kỉ cập nhơn
Measure yourself to measure others — your own wishes are the ruler for everyone's.
suy lạng tính đồng
Weighing by the tael, counting by the coin — scrupulousness down to the smallest unit.
suy ra
which implies that; which means that; it follows that; ⇒
sàng đầu kim tận, tráng sĩ vô nhan
Gold spent to the bed-head, the hero has no face left — generosity exhausted, standing goes with it.
sát nhứt miêu, cứu vạn thử
Kill one cat, save ten thousand mice — one hard stroke that spares a multitude.
sân si
Petty and score-keeping — from the Buddhist trio tham-sân-si (greed, anger, delusion), repurposed for people who cannot let the smallest slight go.
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