Thứ nhất khoa thi, thứ nhì bọc đỗ
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Being the best is not as good as being second to someone who is extremely talented
Đứng thứ hai sau người tài giỏi hơn là tốt hơn đứng đầu
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Examples
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 2026-08-08; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Thứ nhất khoa thi, thứ nhì bọc đỗ” mean?
Being the best is not as good as being second to someone who is extremely talented Literally: First in the exam, second in wrapping beans
Is “Thứ nhất khoa thi, thứ nhì bọc đỗ” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.