thần vong xỉ hàn
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Lips gone, teeth cold — lose the neighbor and the frost reaches you; allied fates, adjacent walls.
Literally: lips lost, teeth cold
Examples
Hai nước liền kề, thần vong xỉ hàn.Adjacent countries — when the lips go, the teeth freeze.
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 “thần vong xỉ hàn” mean?
Lips gone, teeth cold — lose the neighbor and the frost reaches you; allied fates, adjacent walls. Literally: lips lost, teeth cold
Is “thần vong xỉ hàn” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.