ngoảnh đi con dại, ngoảnh lại con khôn
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Children can be foolish or wise depending on the situation
Literally: turn away foolish child, turn back wise child
Examples
Khi gặp khó khăn, anh ta ngoảnh đi con dại, ngoảnh lại con khôn để giải quyết vấn đềWhen facing difficulties, he turns a blind eye to foolishness and turns to wisdom to solve the problem
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
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 drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “ngoảnh đi con dại, ngoảnh lại con khôn” mean?
Children can be foolish or wise depending on the situation Literally: turn away foolish child, turn back wise child
Is “ngoảnh đi con dại, ngoảnh lại con khôn” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.