Hiền lành trước mắt, làm giặc sau lưng

🎙 Say it

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Being friendly and obedient on the surface but secretly plotting against someone

Literally: Gentle in front of the eyes, making enemy behind the back

Examples

Anh ta luôn hiền lành trước mắt, làm giặc sau lưng người cũHe is always gentle in front of people, but secretly plots against his former associates

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 “Hiền lành trước mắt, làm giặc sau lưng” mean?

Being friendly and obedient on the surface but secretly plotting against someone Literally: Gentle in front of the eyes, making enemy behind the back

Is “Hiền lành trước mắt, làm giặc sau lưng” 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