唇亡齿寒
chún wáng chǐ hán
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Traditional: 唇亡齒寒
Two parties depend on each other so closely that if one falls the other is left exposed, like teeth without lips. Used of neighbouring countries, allies and business partners.
Môi mất thì răng lạnh: hai bên gắn bó, nương tựa vào nhau, bên này đổ thì bên kia cũng lâm nguy. Thường dùng cho các nước láng giềng, đồng minh hay đối tác làm ăn.
Register: formal
Examples
Editorial example (illustrative, not a corpus attestation) — awaiting a native-speaker check
Sources & notes
Hán-Việt bridge batch 062 (2026-11-13). Headword, Traditional form and pinyin checked against CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0) source ↗ · Hán-Việt reading: Unihan kVietnamese source ↗ · Vietnamese cognate: Idiomer entry “thần vong xỉ hàn” (than-vong-xi-han). Definition, literal gloss and example sentence are original; the example has not had a native-speaker check yet.
Equivalents & related
Common questions
What does “唇亡齿寒” mean?
Two parties depend on each other so closely that if one falls the other is left exposed, like teeth without lips. Used of neighbouring countries, allies and business partners. Literally: lips perish, teeth grow cold
Is “唇亡齿寒” formal or informal?
唇亡齿寒 is generally formal.