nhứt sớm nhì muộn
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Better early than late
Literally: first early second late
Examples
Nhứt sớm nhì muộn, con nên đi học sớmBetter early than late, you should go to school early
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Tục ngữ, cổ ngữ, gia ngôn (Huỳnh Tịnh Của, 1897; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Tục ngữ, cổ ngữ, gia ngôn (Huỳnh Tịnh Của, 1897). Source gloss (Vietnamese): “Trong sự vãng lai ơn nghĩa cùng nhau, miễn là cho có, chẳng câu sớm muộn.” 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 “nhứt sớm nhì muộn” mean?
Better early than late Literally: first early second late
Is “nhứt sớm nhì muộn” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.