tham sống sợ chết
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Desire something but be afraid to take the risk
Literally: long to live, fear to die
Where it’s used:
Used
Toàn quốc & hải ngoại · Vietnam-wide & diaspora
Examples
Anh ấy tham sống sợ chết khi quyết định đầu tư vào dự án mớiHe was torn between desire and fear when deciding to invest in the new project
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 “tham sống sợ chết” mean?
Desire something but be afraid to take the risk Literally: long to live, fear to die
Is “tham sống sợ chết” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.