Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Quần nước xáo, áo nước dưa

🎙 Say it

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Being in a precarious or unstable situation

Literally: trousers soaked in floodwater, shirt soaked in melon water

Examples

Anh ấy vừa mất việc, vừa bị ốm, thật là quần nước xáo, áo nước dưa.He just lost his job and got sick, it's really like trousers soaked in floodwater, shirt soaked in melon water.

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 “Quần nước xáo, áo nước dưa” mean?

Being in a precarious or unstable situation Literally: trousers soaked in floodwater, shirt soaked in melon water

Is “Quần nước xáo, áo nước dưa” formal or informal?

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

👁 Views 0 today 0 past 7 days 0 this month 0 all time