gạo da ngà, nhà gỗ lim
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A modest exterior can hide great value or wealth
Literally: brown rice, lim wood house
Examples
Bên ngoài anh ấy gạo da ngà, nhà gỗ lim, nhưng thực ra anh ấy rất giàuHe appears modest, but in fact he is very rich
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 “gạo da ngà, nhà gỗ lim” mean?
A modest exterior can hide great value or wealth Literally: brown rice, lim wood house
Is “gạo da ngà, nhà gỗ lim” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.