Tiếng Việt · Proverb Attested

tái ông thất mã, nan tri họa phước

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Meaning · English

The old frontiersman lost his horse — who can say what is disaster, what blessing; every loss may be luck in harness.

Literally: Tái ông lost his horse: hard to tell woe from weal

Examples

Mất việc mà nhờ vậy đổi đời, tái ông thất mã.Losing that job changed his life for the better — the old man's lost horse.

Editorial example (VI sweep batch 040, illustrative)

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). Definition is an original editorial synthesis, not copied from the source.

Common questions

What does “tái ông thất mã, nan tri họa phước” mean?

The old frontiersman lost his horse — who can say what is disaster, what blessing; every loss may be luck in harness. Literally: Tái ông lost his horse: hard to tell woe from weal

Is “tái ông thất mã, nan tri họa phước” formal or informal?

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