chỉ bằng cái móng tay
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Very little or almost nothing
Literally: only by the nail
Where it’s used:
Used
Toàn quốc & hải ngoại · Vietnam-wide & diaspora
Examples
Anh ấy chỉ biết chút kiến thức về toán, chỉ bằng cái móng tay.He knows very little about math, only by the nail.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on Vietnamese Wikiquote “Thành ngữ Việt Nam” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “chỉ bằng cái móng tay” mean?
Very little or almost nothing Literally: only by the nail
Is “chỉ bằng cái móng tay” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.