Tiếng Việt · Idiom Attested

kiến bò miệng chén

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In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Meaning · English

An ant circling the cup's rim — busy travel, zero progress, no way off.

Literally: ant crawls the bowl's lip

Examples

Quanh quẩn như kiến bò miệng chén.Circling like the ant on the cup's rim.

Editorial example (VI sweep batch 040, illustrative)

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 is an original editorial synthesis, not copied from the source.

Common questions

What does “kiến bò miệng chén” mean?

An ant circling the cup's rim — busy travel, zero progress, no way off. Literally: ant crawls the bowl's lip

Is “kiến bò miệng chén” formal or informal?

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

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