Đói thì lên bắc, chạy giặc xuống nam

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

When in hardship, move to the north, and when at war, move to the south

Literally: Hungry then go north, run from enemy go south

Examples

Khi đất nước bị chiến tranh tàn phá, ông bà tôi đã lên bắc để tìm kiếm cuộc sống mớiWhen the country was devastated by war, my grandparents went north to find a new life

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 2026-08-08; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Đói thì lên bắc, chạy giặc xuống nam” mean?

When in hardship, move to the north, and when at war, move to the south Literally: Hungry then go north, run from enemy go south

Is “Đói thì lên bắc, chạy giặc xuống nam” formal or informal?

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

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