Nhất song ngà, nhì xà leo

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

One person is exceptionally talented, the other is just average

Literally: first ivory, second snake climbs

Examples

Anh ta nhất song ngà, nhì xà leo trong lớp.He is first ivory, second snake climbs in the class.

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 “Nhất song ngà, nhì xà leo” mean?

One person is exceptionally talented, the other is just average Literally: first ivory, second snake climbs

Is “Nhất song ngà, nhì xà leo” formal or informal?

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

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