Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Dao thử trầu héo, kéo thử lụa co

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Test someone's character when they are in a difficult situation

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Thử tính cách của ai đó khi họ gặp khó khăn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: Knife tests dried areca, scissors test shrunk silk

Examples

Khi gặp khó khăn, anh ấy đã giúp tôi, thật là đạo thử trầu héo, kéo thử lụa coWhen I was in trouble, he helped me, it's really testing someone's character in a difficult situation

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Headword listed in the vdict.com proverb dictionary index (discovery source; headword only — no source content copied). Entered as candidate 2026-08-05; definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-06; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Dao thử trầu héo, kéo thử lụa co” mean?

Test someone's character when they are in a difficult situation Literally: Knife tests dried areca, scissors test shrunk silk

Is “Dao thử trầu héo, kéo thử lụa co” formal or informal?

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

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