Ngựa ô chẳng cưỡi, cưỡi bò; đường ngay không chạy, chạy dò đường quanh

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Do something indirectly because the direct way is not possible

Literally: Ride a black horse, ride an ox; walk a straight road, walk a winding road

Examples

Vì không được phép xây nhà cao tầng nên anh phải ngựa ô chẳng cưỡi, cưỡi bò, xây nhà dưới lòng đấtBecause he was not allowed to build a high-rise house, he had to do it indirectly, building the house underground

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 “Ngựa ô chẳng cưỡi, cưỡi bò; đường ngay không chạy, chạy dò đường quanh” mean?

Do something indirectly because the direct way is not possible Literally: Ride a black horse, ride an ox; walk a straight road, walk a winding road

Is “Ngựa ô chẳng cưỡi, cưỡi bò; đường ngay không chạy, chạy dò đường quanh” formal or informal?

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

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