Tiếng Việt · Idiom Attested

đắng như bồ hòn

🎙 Say it

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

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Bitter as soap-nut — the proverbial worst taste, swallowed whole.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

đắng nhất

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: bitter as the soapberry

Examples

Ngậm bồ hòn làm ngọt.Holding the soap-nut and calling it sweet.

Editorial example (VI sweep batch 040, illustrative)

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 is an original editorial synthesis, not copied from the source.

Common questions

What does “đắng như bồ hòn” mean?

Bitter as soap-nut — the proverbial worst taste, swallowed whole. Literally: bitter as the soapberry

Is “đắng như bồ hòn” formal or informal?

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

👁 Views 0 today 0 past 7 days 0 this month 0 all time