Nhất song ngà, nhì xà leo
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.
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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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