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đứt đi mà nối, sao cho bằng mối xưa

Retied, but never like the first knot — mended bonds keep their splice.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

đứt đuôi con nòng nọc

Clean as a tadpole losing its tail — decisively, completely severed.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

đừng giận nữa

"Don't be mad anymore" — the make-up opener; multiplied with food ("đừng giận nữa, đi ăn nha?") it rarely fails.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

đừng lo

"Don't worry" — reassurance in two syllables; "đừng lo, có mình đây" (don't worry, I'm here) is the full comfort package.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

đừng làm phiền tôi

"Leave me alone / stop bothering me" — firm but not vulgar; the street-vendor deflection when a smile hasn't worked.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

đừng nài lương giáo khác dòng, vốn đều con Lạc cháu Hồng khi xưa

Press no divide of Buddhist and Catholic — all were children of Lạc and grandchildren of Hồng before the altars differed.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ơ mây zing gút chóp

Amazing, good job! — the English phrase respelled in Vietnamese, popularized as a catchphrase by coach Binz on Rap Việt (2020).

Tiếng Việt Slang Attested

ơn cả nghĩa dày

A debt of kindness broad and deep — gratitude owed past measuring.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ước gì anh hóa ra gương, để cho em cứ ngày thường em soi. Ước gì anh hóa ra cơi, để cho em đựng cau tươi trầu vàng

Would you were a mirror, for me to gaze in daily; would you were a betel box, for me to keep fresh areca and golden leaf — love wishing itself into the beloved's hands.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ước gì sông rộng một gang, bắc cầu dải yếm để chàng sang chơi

Would the river were one hand-span wide — I'd bridge it with my yếm-strap for you to cross and visit — desire re-engineering geography.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ải mĩ nhân

The beauty pass — the trap where a man's judgment goes to die; seduction deployed with intent.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ảo ma

Surreal to the point of suspicion — internet shorthand for "that can't be real". Often extended into the nonsense chant "ảo ma Canada".

Tiếng Việt Slang Attested

ảo thật đấy

Deadpan "now that is unreal" — the meme-certified reaction to something absurd enough to question reality, popularized by streamer culture.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ảo tung chảo

So surreal the wok flips — maximum-strength "unbelievable", the cartoonish upgrade of "ảo" for things that break your sense of reality.

Tiếng Việt Slang Attested

ấm a ấm ớ

Humming and hawing — mumbling evasively, never giving a straight answer.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ấm cật no lòng

Warm-backed and full-bellied — living in comfort and plenty.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ấm ớ hội tề

Mumbling like the village council — deliberately vague, neither confirming nor denying.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ấp rắn vào ngực

To clutch a snake to your chest — to shelter someone who will turn on you.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ầu ơ, gió đưa bụi chuối sau hè Anh mê vợ bé bỏ bè con thơ

Lullaby: wind stirs the banana clump behind the house — he chases the minor wife and abandons raft and children — the deserted family's cradle song.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ầu ơ, gió đưa gió đẩy về rẫy ăn còng Về sông ăn cá, về đồng ăn cua

Lullaby: wind blows and shoves — to the clearing for còng crabs, to the river for fish, to the fields for crabs — the roaming song of making-do.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ậm à ậm ừ

Umming and ahing — grunting vaguely to dodge every question at hand.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ếch ngồi đáy giếng

Someone with a narrow worldview who mistakes their limited experience for the whole world.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ếch ngồi đáy giếng biết đâu là giời

The frog at the well's bottom — sure the sky is exactly one well-mouth wide.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ố nhơn thắng kỉ

Hating whoever betters you — envy dressed as judgment.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ốc chẳng nổi mình ốc

The snail can't even carry its own shell — and offers to carry moss for others.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ốc như huyền khánh

A house like a hung chime-stone — four bare walls and the wind; poverty with nothing left to list.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ối dồi ôi

The Northern yelp of astonishment — an eye-popping "oh my goodness!" that internet culture adopted as a meme spelling of "ối giời ơi".

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ống tre đè miệng giạ

The bamboo strickle levels the measure — the honest scrape across the brim; full measure, no heap, no hollow.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ớt cay gừng đắng

Chili hot, ginger bitter — the sharp seasonings of shared life.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ớt nào mà ớt chẳng cay, gái nào mà gái chẳng hay ghen chồng Vôi nào là vôi chẳng nồng, gái nào là gái có chồng chẳng ghen

What chili isn't hot, what girl doesn't guard her husband — jealousy as natural as spice.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

Ở hiền gặp lành

One good turn deserves another.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ở cho phải phải phân phân, cây da cậy thần, thần cậy cây da

The banyan leans on the spirit, the spirit on the banyan — legitimacy and shelter propping each other up.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ở sao vừa được lòng người, ở rộng người cười, ở hẹp người chê

Live so as to please everyone? Live broadly they laugh, live narrowly they sneer — the impossibility of universal approval.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ở đâu còn lâu mới nói

'As if — like I'd ever tell' — the interrogation-proof teenage stonewall.

Tiếng Việt Slang Attested

ở đời muôn sự của chung, hơn nhau một tiếng anh hùng mà thôi

In this life all things are held in common — we outdo each other only by the name of hero left behind.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ủa gì vậy

The double-take: "wait, what?" — "ủa" is the noise Vietnamese makes when reality glitches; beloved of memes and group chats.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ỷ thế ỷ thần

Leaning on power, leaning on spirits — patronage temporal or supernatural, so long as it's someone else's strength.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ỷm cựu nghinh tân

Tiring of the old to greet the new — appetite's endless trade-in.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

vắng chủ nhà, gà vọc niêu tôm

When the person in charge is away, those left behind misbehave or run wild.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Disputed

'If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen

English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.

English Proverb Candidate

'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all

Experiencing loss is better than never having the experience at all

English Proverb Candidate

11 Downing Street

British Chancellor of the Exchequer's official residence

English Idiom Candidate