Tiếng Việt · Idiom Attested

cửu tử nhứt sanh

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In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Nine parts death, one part life — odds narrowed to a single thread of survival.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Còn sống trong tình huống tuyệt vọng

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: nine dead, one alive

Examples

Ca mổ ấy cửu tử nhứt sanh.That operation was nine parts death, one part life.

Editorial example (VI sweep batch 040, illustrative)

Sources & notes

Discovered via Tục ngữ, cổ ngữ, gia ngôn (Huỳnh Tịnh Của, 1897; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Tục ngữ, cổ ngữ, gia ngôn (Huỳnh Tịnh Của, 1897). Definition is an original editorial synthesis, not copied from the source.

Common questions

What does “cửu tử nhứt sanh” mean?

Nine parts death, one part life — odds narrowed to a single thread of survival. Literally: nine dead, one alive

Is “cửu tử nhứt sanh” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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