rút củi đáy nồi

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

to secretly undermine or sabotage someone's efforts

Literally: pulling the firewood from under the pot
Where it’s used: Used Toàn quốc & hải ngoại · Vietnam-wide & diaspora

Examples

Anh ta rút củi đáy nồi khiến dự án thất bạiHe undermined the project, causing it to fail

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 “rút củi đáy nồi” mean?

to secretly undermine or sabotage someone's efforts Literally: pulling the firewood from under the pot

Is “rút củi đáy nồi” formal or informal?

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