Browse all entries (83,355)

ăn chín uống sôi

to practice good hygiene by only consuming cooked food and boiled water

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn chó cả lông

Eating the dog, fur and all — appetite, or greed, that refuses no part.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn chõ ngồi chẽ

Mind the steamer, sit with care — a dialect cousin of 'watch the pot as you eat, watch the direction as you sit.'

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn chưa

The Southern hello-by-way-of-food: "eaten yet?" — care disguised as a question; nobody is actually taking your order.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ăn chắc mặc bền

to prioritize durability and utility over luxury or aesthetics

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn chẳng nên đọi, nói chẳng nên nhời

Eating short of a bowl, speaking short of a sentence — competence arriving nowhere whole.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn chặn

to embezzle, pocket, or intercept money or goods that belong to others (especially by taking a cut from wages, relief funds, or payments)

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn có bữa lo không có bữa

Meals have their hours; worry keeps none — eating is bounded, care is boundless.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn có mời, làm có khiến

Eat when invited, work when bidden — propriety waits for the summons.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn có nhai, nói có nghĩ

Chew before swallowing, think before speaking — the mouth's two duties, both requiring pause.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn cơm chúa, múa tối ngày

Eat the lord's rice, dance till nightfall — whoever feeds you commands your day.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn cơm chưa

The classic Vietnamese hello: "have you eaten rice yet?" — care, not catering; the correct answer is short and warm either way.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ăn cơm mắm thấm về lâu

Fish-paste rice seeps in slowly — plain fare, like plain truth, soaks deep with time.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn cơm mới nói chuyện cũ

Over new rice, tell the old stories — the harvest table is where memory eats.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn cơm quốc gia, thờ ma cộng sản

to eat the State's rice while worshiping the Communist spirits

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn cơm tập thể

Mess-hall living — the crowded, threadbare communality of dormitory rice.

Tiếng Việt Slang Attested

ăn cướp còn la làng

The robber crying 'thief!' loudest — the guilty party howling as the victim.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn cỗ có phần

Attend the feast and a portion is yours — presence collects its share.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn gửi nằm nhờ

Eating as a lodger, sleeping as a guest — a life boarded entirely on sufferance.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn hành

To get wrecked, suffer, or be put through the wringer (originally gaming slang).

Tiếng Việt Slang Attested

ăn hả hả, trả ỷ ỷ

Borrow beaming, repay cringing — the two faces of every loan.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn hết nhiều, ở hết bao nhiêu

Eating consumes plenty; dwelling consumes how much? — food is the true expense; lodging is cheap.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn kĩ làm dối

Thorough at eating, slapdash at working — careful only where the appetite is concerned.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn kỉ no dai

Careful eating keeps you full the longer — providence now is comfort later.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn kỹ no lâu, cầy sâu tốt lúa

Chew well, stay full; plow deep, reap thick — thoroughness feeds twice.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn làm sóng, nói làm gió

Making waves of meals and wind of words — stirring commotion out of eating and talking alike.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn lông ở lỗ

to live as if one is a prehistoric man

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn lắm ỉa nhiều

Much eating, much dunging — the idle glutton produces nothing else.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn may

(verb) to win or succeed by sheer luck rather than skill or effort

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn mày dĩ vãng

To beg from the past — to live off old glories and keep trading on what you once did.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn mày quen ngõ

The beggar knows the lane — habit wears its own path to the same door.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn mày đòi sôi-gấc, ăn chực đòi bánh-chưng

The beggar demanding gấc-red sticky rice, the freeloader demanding bánh chưng — dependency with a tasting menu.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn mắm ngắm về sau

Eat fish-paste, expect the thirst after — pleasures bill their sequel.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn mặn nói ngay

Eat salty and speak straight — better plain-living honesty than fasting hypocrisy.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn ngon miệng nhé

"Enjoy your meal" — said when serving or leaving someone to eat; the Vietnamese bon appétit.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ăn như gấu ăn giăng

Eating like the bear eating the moon — devouring on a mythological scale.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn nhờ ở đậu

to live in someone else's house and rely on them for food and shelter

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn no sanh sự

A full belly breeds mischief — comfort is where trouble learns to walk.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn nên làm ra

to bring benefits; to be profitable

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn nói xà lơ

Talking nonsense; saying something totally off — “xà lơ” is a playful take on “sai lơ” (dead wrong).

Tiếng Việt Slang Attested

ăn quen, nhịn không quen

Indulgence comes easy; abstaining doesn't — appetites train faster than restraint ever will.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn quả bỏ hột

Eat the fruit, toss the seed — enjoyment that discards its own next harvest.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn sẻ sẻ đẻ ông voi

Eat like a sparrow, lose like an elephant — the gambler's diet: tiny wins, giant losses.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn sống nuốt tươi

Eaten raw and swallowed live — consumed without ceremony; overwhelmed in one bite.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn theo thuở, ở theo thì

Eat by the season, live by the times — bend your habits to the hour you're given.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn thì cho, buôn thì so

Food is given freely; goods are haggled — meals escape arithmetic, trade never does.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn thì hơn, hờn thì thiệt

Eating gains, sulking loses — storm off and you forfeit your share.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn thì vóc, học thì hay

Food builds the frame, study builds the mind — nourishment shows in the body, learning in the wit.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn thùng uống vại

to eat and drink excessively or gluttonously; to have a massive appetite

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn to nói lớn

to be straightforward, bold, and decisive in one's conduct and speech

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn trưa chưa

"Had lunch yet?" — the office corridor greeting; an invitation hides inside it more often than not.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ăn trước trả sau

Eat first, pay after — enjoying now what must be settled later.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn trầu cách mắt

Betel passed over one guest — the gift that skips an eye makes an enemy of it.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn trầu gẫm

Chewing betel in thought — turning the world over slowly, quid in cheek.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn trắng mặc trơn

to live a life of leisure, comfort, and wealth

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn trộm có tang, chơi ngang có tích

Theft leaves evidence, mischief leaves a record — wrongdoing files its own paperwork.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn trộm quen tay, ngủ ngày quen mắt

Thieving trains the hand as day-sleep trains the eye — practice a vice and it becomes your nature.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn tàn phá hại

to be extremely destructive and wasteful; to consume resources without contributing anything

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn tấm trả giặt

Eat broken rice, repay whole grains — borrow small and repay large, as gambling debts go.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn tục nói phét

to habitually use foul language and tell tall tales or lies

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested