nước xa không cứu được lửa gần
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Distant help is useless in an emergency
Literally: Far water cannot save near fire
Where it’s used:
Used
Toàn quốc & hải ngoại · Vietnam-wide & diaspora
Examples
Anh ấy ở Mỹ, không thể giúp gì được cho gia đình trong cơn khó khăn này, nước xa không cứu được lửa gầnHe is in the US, cannot help his family in this difficult time, distant help is useless
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on Vietnamese Wikiquote “Thành ngữ Việt Nam” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “nước xa không cứu được lửa gần” mean?
Distant help is useless in an emergency Literally: Far water cannot save near fire
Is “nước xa không cứu được lửa gần” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.