cứ mềm thì đục
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Gentleness can overcome hardness
Literally: soft then pierce
Examples
Cứ mềm thì đục, anh ấy đã thuyết phục được sếp khó tínhHe was able to persuade the tough boss
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “cứ mềm thì đục” mean?
Gentleness can overcome hardness Literally: soft then pierce
Is “cứ mềm thì đục” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.