Ngày dưng thì chẳng xe gai, đến khi nước lớn mượn chài ai cho

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

When you're in a difficult situation, it's hard to find help

Literally: When the day is calm, there's no thorn, but when the water is big, who lends a net

Examples

Anh ấy luôn nói rằng ngày dưng thì chẳng xe gai, đến khi nước lớn mượn chài ai cho khi gặp khó khănHe always says that when you're in a difficult situation, it's hard to find help when he faces difficulties

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 “Ngày dưng thì chẳng xe gai, đến khi nước lớn mượn chài ai cho” mean?

When you're in a difficult situation, it's hard to find help Literally: When the day is calm, there's no thorn, but when the water is big, who lends a net

Is “Ngày dưng thì chẳng xe gai, đến khi nước lớn mượn chài ai cho” formal or informal?

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

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