Mười bảy vảy thì tha, mười ba vảy thì ních
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Let someone off lightly for a minor offense, but punish severely for a serious one
Examples
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 2026-08-07; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Mười bảy vảy thì tha, mười ba vảy thì ních” mean?
Let someone off lightly for a minor offense, but punish severely for a serious one Literally: Seventeen scales forgive, thirteen scales punish
Is “Mười bảy vảy thì tha, mười ba vảy thì ních” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.