Tiếng Việt · Idiom Attested

ngậm bồ hòn làm ngọt

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

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Holding the soap-nut and calling it sweet — swallowing bitterness with a straight face.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Nuốt苦 với khuôn mặt thẳng thắn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: hold the soapberry, act as if sweet

Examples

Bị oan mà đành ngậm bồ hòn làm ngọt.Wronged, and holding the soap-nut like candy.

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 “ngậm bồ hòn làm ngọt” mean?

Holding the soap-nut and calling it sweet — swallowing bitterness with a straight face. Literally: hold the soapberry, act as if sweet

Is “ngậm bồ hòn làm ngọt” formal or informal?

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

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