khách đến nhà không gà thì vịt
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
When guests arrive, one must offer them something to eat
Literally: guest arrives at home no chicken then duck
Where it’s used:
Used
Toàn quốc & hải ngoại · Vietnam-wide & diaspora
Examples
Khách đến nhà không gà thì vịt, tôi chạy đi mua thịt ngayWhen guests arrive, one must offer them something to eat, so I rushed to buy meat
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on Vietnamese Wikiquote “Thành ngữ Việt Nam” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “khách đến nhà không gà thì vịt” mean?
When guests arrive, one must offer them something to eat Literally: guest arrives at home no chicken then duck
Is “khách đến nhà không gà thì vịt” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.