Thứ nhất thì mồ côi cha, thứ nhì gánh vã, thứ ba buôn thuyền
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A sequence of unfortunate events
Literally: First orphaned of father, second carrying a yoke, third selling a boat
Examples
Cuộc đời anh ấy thật khó khăn, thứ nhất thì mồ côi cha, thứ nhì gánh vã, thứ ba buôn thuyền.His life was really tough, first orphaned of father, second carrying a yoke, third selling a boat.
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.
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Common questions
What does “Thứ nhất thì mồ côi cha, thứ nhì gánh vã, thứ ba buôn thuyền” mean?
A sequence of unfortunate events Literally: First orphaned of father, second carrying a yoke, third selling a boat
Is “Thứ nhất thì mồ côi cha, thứ nhì gánh vã, thứ ba buôn thuyền” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
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